29/01/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
The union, which had previously organised signature campaigns for the closure of LGBTI+ associations, targeted LGBTI+s again. Many branches of the union said that the signature campaign with anti-LGBTI+ statements will take place simultaneously in Turkey.

Photo: Serra Akcan / csgorselarsiv.org
One of the unions of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the Mil-Diyanet Sen (Union of Religious Affairs Administration Workers) has again targeted LGBTI+s and announced that they have started a signature campaign for the closure of LGBTI+ associations. Mil-Diyanet Sen's branches in many cities such as Istanbul, Antalya, Artvin, Adıyaman, Elazığ and Zonguldak also made a statement that the signature campaign targeting LGBTI+s will take place simultaneously in Turkey.
In a post on his social media account, Celaleddin Gül, President of Mil-Diyanet Sen, argued that the associations should be closed down, citing the anti-LGBTI+ policies in Russia and the USA, and called LGBTI+’s ‘deviant’:
"It is known that our President Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared 2025 as the “Year of the Family”. We, as Mil-Diyanet Sen, which carries out serious work to prevent social decay and moral degeneration in the family and society, have twice petitioned the Ministry of Interior on different dates to close LGBT associations for the protection of the family, youth and generation. Some countries, especially Russia, have closed down perverted LGBT associations that threaten the family and society and even banned their propaganda, and Donald Trump, who was re-elected to the US Presidency, has declared war on LGBT in the same way."
Claiming that the LGBTI+ movement is a Zionist project, Gül targeted LGBTI+s with the following statements:
"Allah has created human beings in male and female genders. The spread of homosexuality, LGBT or genderlessness is a Zionist project to disrupt human nature. Zionism is the institutionalised form of Satan's projects that want to corrupt the human generation. In this context; As Mil-Diyanet Sen, we are launching a signature campaign simultaneously in all provinces between 01-04 February 2025 for the closure of perverted LGBT associations that corrupt our family, youth and generation and the prohibition of all their activities."
The union had previously organised signature campaigns
Mil-Diyanet Sen had previously organised signature campaigns for the closure of LGBTI+ associations and repeatedly targeted LGBTI+’s.
In a statement made in 2023, Mil-Diyanet President Celaleddin Gül targeted LGBTI+s by saying ‘We will not stop until LGBT associations are closed’. In the same year, he called for the closure of LGBTI+ associations. The union also announced in June 2022 that they had submitted a petition to the Ministry of Interior for the closure of LGBTI+ associations and announced that they had launched the ‘Close LGBT Organisations’ campaign.
Tags: human rights, family