10/02/2026 | Writer: Kaos GL
We have compiled the reactions and messages of solidarity concerning the lawsuit filed against Defne Güzel, Chair of the Executive Board of the May 17 Association, on charges of violating the Law on Associations with the allegation of being “contrary to public morality,” for Kaos GL readers.
A lawsuit has been filed against Defne Güzel, Chair of the Executive Board of the May 17 Association, on the grounds of publications released by the association, a book and an exhibition catalogue on intersex rights, alleging “contrary to public morality” and charging her with violating the Law on Associations. The case has mobilized rights organizations, political parties, and human rights activists.
As reactions to the case continue to grow, calls for solidarity with Defne Güzel are also growing, and messages of support keep coming in.
We have compiled the individuals and institutions responding to the case for Kaos GL readers.
Özgür Renkler Association: This case is being assessed as part of systematic pressure policies targeting LGBTI+ visibility, intersex rights, and rights-based civil society activities. We are expanding solidarity against the prosecution of human rights advocacy and the suppression of LGBTI+ visibility and freedom of expression. Rights-based civil society work is not a crime.
Renkli Güvercin LGBTI+ Initiative: We stand with Defne Güzel and the May 17 Association against hate policies, systematic repression, and rights violations targeting LGBTI+ people. We will continue to strengthen solidarity, raise our voices, and sustain our struggle for rights in the face of this climate of pressure. Defne Güzel is not alone. The May 17 Association is not alone. LGBTI+ people are not alone. We stand in solidarity with Defne Güzel. We stand shoulder to shoulder against hate policies. We will not give up our rights, our existence, or our struggle.
Youth Organizations Forum: Following the closure of the Young LGBTI+ Association, a member of GoFor’s Executive Board, a lawsuit has now been filed against Defne Güzel, Chair of the May 17 Association. The justification: a book and an exhibition catalogue on intersex rights. Proceedings have been initiated against Defne Güzel with a request for 1–3 years of imprisonment. This case targets freedom of expression, the right to organize, and LGBTI+ rights advocacy.
Muamma LGBTI+ Association: A lawsuit has been filed against Defne Güzel, Chair of the Executive Board of the May 17 Association, due to the association’s publications! After inspections carried out in 2024, a three member expert panel stated in its July 2025 report that there were no irregularities whatsoever. However, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office disregarded the expert opinion and prepared an indictment alleging “public morality.” The alleged elements of the crime are books containing intersex people’s stories and artistic catalogues. This case is not only Defne’s, it is all of our case.
DEM Party Istanbul MP Özgül Saki: Saki brought the case against Defne Güzel, Chair of the Executive Board of the May 17 Association, to the parliamentary agenda. In a parliamentary question submitted to be answered by Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç, Saki drew attention to the recent increase in inspections and administrative investigations targeting civil society organizations. Noting that associations working in the field of LGBTI+ rights have increasingly faced administrative and legal processes, the motion stated that the criminal proceedings initiated against Defne Güzel in Ankara have also come to public attention within this context.
Saki also made a press statement in Parliament on February 13, saying:
"This case shows the point our state’s body politics have reached. Speaking about and defending the rights violations faced by intersex people is not a crime. What is criminal is rendering these rights violations invisible.”
“Human rights advocacy is not a crime!”
Pozitif Alan: As Pozitif Alan, we are aware that this case is not merely a “paper-based” accusation, but part of a global policy of intimidation targeting trans women, intersex people, and people living with HIV. The prosecution of Defne Güzel is the prosecution of the right to health, privacy, and the will to organize of people living with HIV. We will stand by our founder Defne Güzel at the hearing to be held on May 12, 2026, at 9.40 a.m. at Ankara 74th Criminal Court of First Instance. We call on civil society and all human rights defenders to speak out against this injustice and strengthen solidarity. Defne Güzel cannot be prosecuted! Human rights advocacy is not a crime!
Revolutionary Socialist Workers’ Party (DSİP): The Revolutionary Socialist Workers’ Party stands with Defne Güzel and LGBTI+ people. Until the struggle for an equal, free, and dignified life is won, we will continue to take to the streets against those who deny LGBTI+ existence and ban colors. We call on everyone who wants to live in a better world to support the struggle of LGBTI+ people. You are not alone, lubunya! We were here, we are here, we will continue to exist!
No to the Hate Law Campaign Group: Although the government appears to have removed regulations that would legalize hate from the 11th Judicial Package, the recent arrests of visible LGBTI+ social media figures, obscenity cases, the closure of the Young LGBTI+ Association, and interventions directly targeting the right to organize, culminating in this lawsuit against LGBTI+ rights advocacy, demonstrate that the government has effectively put a hate law into practice in violation of the Constitution.
Joint statement by 14 LGBTI+ rights organizations operating in Turkey: A similar pattern of judicial harassment, through allegations of violating the Law on Associations and obscenity, resulted in the closure of the Young LGBTI+ Association. These instances of judicial harassment are part of systematic attacks against LGBTI+ people carried out under the banner of the “Year of the Family.” Therefore, this case is not only against Defne Güzel; it is directed at intersex visibility, artistic production, freedom of association, and all LGBTI+ organizations. As LGBTI+ associations, we stand with our comrade Defne Güzel. We call on the entire democratic public to raise their voices against this legal travesty.
Joint statement by LISTAG and GALADER: We address the public clearly from here: Those who defend the rights of our children are not alone. As parents, we stand with Defne Güzel and the May 17 Association. Human rights advocacy is not a crime; demands for love, solidarity, and justice cannot be put on trial. We call on the democratic public to stand up for our children’s struggle for equal citizenship and to raise their voices against this unlawfulness.
“We are all contrary to public morality; we will all defend our existence!”
Joint statement by five civil society organizations working in the field of trans rights: Targeting trans people engaged in rights advocacy is not merely the prosecution of a single association chair, it is the silencing of thousands of trans people whose rights are being violated. This attempt at criminalization undermines trans people’s trust in the justice system and fuels social violence. Yet we know that the struggle of trans people for a dignified life and their organized power are far too deeply rooted to be suppressed by any legal pressure.
Direnişin Renkleri: Alongside the closure of the Young LGBTI+ Association and the detention of LGBTI+ influencers under the pretext of public morality, the lawsuit filed today against Defne Güzel is a case targeting our existence and our freedom of association. We are all contrary to public morality; we will all defend our existence!
Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK): As the EŞİK Platform, we previously stated that vague and subjective concepts such as “conduct and behavior contrary to public morality and innate biological sex,” which the government attempted to introduce into the Criminal Code through the 11th Judicial Package, would leave no citizen with legal security. Forced by the struggle of the women’s movement and LGBTI+ rights organizations to withdraw these proposals from the package, the government now seeks to strip individuals of their rights and freedoms through de facto practices, even if these concepts are not enshrined in law.
Human Rights Association (İHD): We will stand against every attempt in this geography to deprive LGBTI+ people of their freedom through the “judicial cudgel,” to criminalize visibility, and to stigmatize human rights advocacy. The right to life, freedom, and dignity of LGBTI+ people cannot be a matter of negotiation. Human rights are universal; discrimination is unacceptable. We call on the public, bar associations, professional chambers, democratic mass organizations, and international human rights mechanisms to take responsibility for these grave violations and to strengthen solidarity.
Side by Side for Equality Coalition (Eşitlik İçin Yan Yana Koalisyonu): The arbitrary enforcement and interpretation of existing legislation, using vague notions such as “public morality” as a tool of pressure and intimidation, is unacceptable in terms of freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of science and the arts. The rhetoric of “public morality” cannot be used as a justification to suppress fundamental rights and freedoms. Rights-based publications and artistic works are not crimes; freedom of expression and the right to organize are fundamental rights guaranteed under international human rights law. As Side by Side for Equality, we announce to the public that we stand in solidarity with Defne Güzel and will continue to stand side by side against the criminalization of human rights advocacy. Human rights advocacy is not a crime! Freedom of expression, the right to organize, and artistic production cannot be put on trial!
Kuşadası Feminist Collective: We feminists know that every attack targeting LGBTI+ people is an attack on the struggle for freedom of women and all oppressed groups. For this reason, we see this issue directly as one of democracy and equality. Defne Güzel is not alone. LGBTI+ people taken into custody are not alone. Human rights advocacy cannot be tried; solidarity is not a crime. LGBTI+ people exist, get used to it!ILGA-Europe: The prosecution against Defne is part of systematic misuse of administrative powers and abuse of state power under the guise of public morality. LGBTI+ activists and organisations have increasingly been subjected to unprecedented and discriminatory administrative scrutiny. This case shows yet again how administrative audits and ‘public morality’ provisions are being consistently weaponised to silence LGBTI groups and further shut down civic participation. We call on the Turkish authorities to drop charges against Defne and cease the judicial harassment of human rights defenders. This prosecution, along with other ongoing cases, sends a clear warning to others engaged in human rights work and civil society organising. Show your solidarity to Defne Güzel and LGBTI+ activists in Turkey!
Organisation Intersex International Europe (OII Europe): Intersex human rights advocacy is not a crime. The persecution of organisations, such as May 17 Association, as well as activists and ordinary citizens who are all an integral part of the struggle for justice and equality and play an instrumental role in fostering public support for the intersex and LGBTIQ rights movement in Turkey, constitutes a direct attack on democracy and human rights as a whole. May 17 Association provides critical, life-saving financially accessible/free psychological support to LGBTI+ people in Turkey. An attack on May 17 Association therefore constitutes a direct attack on the wellbeing and safety of the LGBTI community as a whole. As OII Europe, we stand in solidarity with Defne Güzel, May 17 Association, all intersex people in Turkey as well as the LGBTI+ community in Turkey. Intersex rights are human rights, and there can be no compromise on these rights!
“The existence of LGBTI+ people is not a crime; oppression, censorship, and hate policies are”
Keskesor Amed and Wan LGBTI+ Formation: Today, books, exhibitions, and human rights defenders are being targeted. Yesterday it was Pride marches; today it is detentions; tomorrow it will be more. This is an open policy of silencing and intimidation. The existence of LGBTI+ people is not a crime; oppression, censorship, and policies of hatred are crimes! Despite pressure, intimidation, and attempts at erasure, we once again declare: we will not give up on our existence or our struggle!
IGLYO: All of these cases are clear attempts to spread fear within our communities by silencing our voices in Turkey and deterring other human rights defenders. But we are not going anywhere! As our rights and freedom of expression are being suppressed in Turkey, we must send a strong message across borders: we will not abandon our siblings in this country, and we will continue to fight for their freedom and for the liberation of our communities in Turkey, and everywhere our existence is being suppressed.
Noor: Her case is not an isolated incident, it is part of a broader attempt to silence the movements for gender justice and LGBTI+ rights.
Solidarity Network for Human Rights Defenders: This lawsuit, which seeks to criminalize activities carried out within the scope of human rights advocacy through vague and unpredictable concepts such as ‘morality,’ is one of the latest examples of systematically discriminatory policies targeting LGBTI+ people and a broader practice of repression aimed at intimidating rights defenders and shrinking civic space. Notably, despite expert reports obtained during the prosecution phase confirming that the association’s activities comply with the law, the disregard for these opinions raises serious questions as to whether the judicial process is being driven not by legal grounds but by political motives.
Human rights defenders based in İzmir: A book is not a crime. An exhibition is not a threat. An association is not a crime. An identity is never a crime. We invite all our friends to stand with Defne Güzel and the 17 Mayıs Association at the hearing to be held on May 12.
İstanbul Bar Association Human Rights Center: Despite the fact that the expert report dated July 9, 2025, prepared during the investigation process by a three-member panel of court-appointed experts who are specialists in the field, explicitly found that the activities of the May 17 Association fully comply with its statutory objectives and that no irregularities exist, a lawsuit has been filed against Defne Güzel, Chair of the Board of the May 17 Association. The case was brought on charges of violating the Law on Associations on the grounds of “contrary to public morality,” citing a book and an exhibition catalogue published by the Association. Portraying legitimate activities carried out in the field of LGBTI+ rights as criminal acts is unacceptable. These developments demonstrate that, even if the regulations under the 11th Judicial Package, aimed at criminalizing the very existence of LGBTI+ people and legitimizing the violence and discrimination they face in many areas of life, from access to healthcare to employment, from education to family life, have not formally entered into force, they are nevertheless being implemented de facto through different instruments and pretexts.
The Sex Workers’ Advocacy Network (SWAN): SWAN calls upon human rights defenders, international organisations, and civil society actors to publicly express their support for Defne Güzel. The ongoing repression of LGBTIQ+ activists in Turkey represents a serious threat to all minorities and marginalized groups across Europe and Asia, reflecting the growing influence of far-right agendas and an alarming trend toward restricting civic space. As SWAN, we urge the Turkish authorities to immediately halt all legal proceedings against Defne Güzel and the May 17Association, and to uphold their international human rights obligations, including the protection of freedom of expression and association.
Transgender Europe (TGEU): We urge Turkish authorities to drop all charges against Defne Güzel and end the use of administrative and judicial harassment of trans human rights defenders. TGEU stands with Defne. We call on the international community to defend Defne, speak out against the suppression of civic freedoms, amplify Turkish LGBTI organisations, and monitor the trial.
The list is being updated.
Tags: human rights, women, media, arts and culture, life, family, trans, lgbti
