An LGBTQ+ organisation in Turkey filed a criminal complaint against the Islamist newspaper Yeni Akit over the hate speech in its news and targeting LGBTQ+ individuals and organisations, Turkish news site T24 reported on Sunday.

KAOS GL, founded in 1994, one of the oldest and largest LGBTQ+ rights organisation in Turkey, filed the criminal complaint against Yeni Şafak saying the Islamist paper adopts hate speech in its reports. The organisation said some phrases the newspaper used like "homosexual perverts", "homos fed by German foundations' and western countries' funds", "despicable homosexuals" were elements of a crime besides being hate speech.

Yeni Akit newspaper on July 1 said that the United Nations was “funding the spread of homosexuality” through a project, which is being carried out jointly with KAOS GL.

“It has been learnt that in May alone, 266 presentations for inspiring homosexual perversion were carried out in various provinces throughout Turkey under the name of advising refugees,” the newspaper said.

Yeni Akit also called for the country’s 18 LGBTQ+ groups to be officially shut down as foreign-funded provocations. Under the headline “Close these pervert associations!” the paper criticised the extension of legal protections for the groups, which it called “nests of subversion”. Read more via Ahval