In The Advocate, Ari Shaw and Victor Madrigal-Borloz argue that Türkiye's crackdown on LGBTQ+ people undercuts COP31's promise to leave no one behind. They describe September raids in 15 provinces, 162 arrests with more than 80 people still in pretrial detention, and blocked websites over alleged 'LGBT propaganda'. Only about 8 percent of national climate plans mention LGBTQ people at all.

They ask organisers to explain how LGBTQ delegates and Turkish civil society will be kept safe, and to treat civic space as a test for climate funding. For freethinkers, the case shows how 'public morality' rules rooted in religious conservatism reach even into global summits that claim to be about science and survival.

Source: Ari Shaw and Victor Madrigal-Borloz, The Advocate (2026-11-09)
https://www.advocate.com/opinion/turkiye-cop31-lgbtq-activists-crackdown

Summarised by the FTI newsdesk.