20/10/2025 | Writer: Oğulcan Özgenç
The proposal allocates less than 1 billion lira to human rights. The headings “empowerment of women” and “youth” also lag behind the allocation for the family.
The 2026 Central Government Budget Bill was submitted to the Presidency of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) with the signature of President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In the budget proposal, under the section titled “Distribution of Central Government Budget Appropriations by Programs,” approximately 22 billion Turkish lira (21.804 billion) is planned to be allocated in 2026 to the item “protection and strengthening of the family.”
According to the proposal, the allocation is projected to increase to 24 billion lira in 2027 and 26 billion lira in 2028.
The heading was first added to the budget proposal in 2021, with allocations of 1 billion lira each in 2021 and 2022, 3 billion in 2023, and 11 billion in 2024. In 2025, the allocation had risen to 16 billion lira.
The allocation for human rights does not reach 1 billion lira
The funds allocated to the headings “empowerment of women,” “human rights,” and “youth” lag behind the amount set aside for “protection of the family.”
In 2026, approximately 8 billion lira is planned to be allocated to “empowerment of women.” Meanwhile, the “youth” item is projected to receive 14 billion lira.
Under the section “Distribution of Central Government Budget Appropriations by Programs,” the allocation for human rights did not reach 1 billion lira, remaining at 920 million lira.
The allocation for the ministry increased by 256 percent over three years
Meanwhile, in the 2026 budget proposal, 531 billion lira was allocated to the Ministry of Family and Social Services. The proposed allocations for the ministry were 407 billion lira in 2025, 334 billion in 2024, and 149 billion in 2023.
The amounts spent on human rights, women, and youth also lagged behind the family allocation in 2024
Recent reports for 2024 published by the Court of Accounts revealed that approximately 10 billion lira was spent on the item “protection and strengthening of the family.”
According to the Court of Accounts reports, only 4 billion lira was spent on “empowerment of women” in 2024, while about 9 billion lira was spent on youth. Expenditures in the human rights area remained at 400 million lira.
The amount spent on protection of the family increased sevenfold over four years
The funds allocated to “protection and strengthening of the family,” which amounted to approximately 1.5 billion lira in 2021, increased steadily in the following years. Expenditures rose to 2 billion lira in 2022 and approximately 5 billion lira in 2023, surpassing 10 billion lira in 2024. Thus, over four years, the resources allocated to this item grew roughly sevenfold.
The budget item shares the same name as the Family Ministry’s anti-LGBTI+ action plan
No detailed information is provided under the heading “Protection and Strengthening of the Family” regarding the activities carried out. However, this budget and expenditure item shares its name with the Action Plan by the Ministry of Family and Social Services that targets LGBTI+ individuals.
In May 2024, the Ministry of Family and Social Services prepared a document titled “Vision Document and Action Plan for the Protection and Strengthening of the Family.” In this document, LGBTI+ people were targeted using terms such as “harmful movements” and “degenderization project.” One of the strategic goals of the plan was described as “strengthening the fight against violence, harmful movements, and habits that threaten the family.”
In the context of this strategic goal, it was stated that a strategy document targeting LGBTI+ people was planned to be prepared, involving all ministries, the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı), and civil society organizations. Furthermore, under the strategic goal, the Ministry was said to carry out “research and evaluation studies with universities on current risk factors threatening the family and society.”
Another planned activity under the LGBTI+ targeting Action Plan involved documentary/program work addressing the negative effects of harmful movements and habits threatening families, especially on children, human nature and rights, family structure, and society, with existing materials being adapted into Turkish.
Tags: human rights, women, life, family, trans, lgbti
