Istanbul's basement clubs were supposed to be dark and quiet the weekend after Turkish police swept through the country's LGBTQ+ venues. Instead, travel writer Gary Nunn found Stay Club packed with dancing men, Ex Bar overflowing for Bear Week, and a community determined to party on.
His trip came days after a major escalation. On 13 September, authorities raided LGBTQ+ organisations, bars, businesses and homes across Turkey, arresting 162 people. Two days later, 126 activists protesting the raids were detained in Istanbul and Ankara. The operation sits under a government campaign called "My Family is Safe", framed as protecting family values, and is tied to a "Decade of the Family" initiative addressing falling birth rates. arrests have since widened to include journalists. Homosexuality itself is not illegal in Turkey, and President Erdogan's government has banned Pride events since 2015.
On the ground, the picture was patchy. Sahara Bar was nearly empty at 1am on a Saturday, but Ex Bar was rammed with bears holding hands in traditional Anatolian circle dances, with three rooms of revellers. Stay Club's go-go dancers drew a crowd, though staff hurried photographers to put phones away. At Cheeky Club, the upstairs darkroom has closed since the raids. Outside Firuz Ağa Hamami, the city's known gay-friendly hamam, a police van idled all night, and one Egyptian visitor said police filmed him entering.
The personal accounts carry the weight. Mustafa shrugged off an ID check at his club as "just politics". Ahmet, a 31-year-old Turkish Airlines flight attendant, said his first-ever raid left him really upset: police checked IDs at 1am and sent everyone home. A Kurdish man staying at the writer's hotel cannot be out at home and still treats Istanbul as his escape.
For LGBTQ+ travellers, the calculus is shifting. In July, Turkish and Egyptian ports blocked the Atlantis LGBTQ+ cruise from docking, citing moral values. Some writers are now vowing not to return; Nunn argues that boycotting Turkey abandons local queer people who most need international solidarity. Two bears at the club told him: "Tonight, we are all back."
Anyone considering Istanbul or Bodrum should go in with eyes open: the nightlife is real and resilient, but police activity is unpredictable, discretion around phones and photos is essential, and the situation may change quickly.
