Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has claimed that the United States has provided financial aid in the amount of $22 million to a LGBT foundation in the capital city of Ankara, according to a report on the Artı Gerçek news website.
Speaking at a meeting organized by a pro-government labor union in Afyonkarahisar province on Tuesday, he said: “One of the most important nations of the world, the US, is helping the PYD [Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey sees as linked to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party], and let me tell you another place where it helps. It provides aid to LGBT. It has given financial aid in the amount of $22 million to a LGBT foundation in Ankara.”
Soylu said there is no need to talk much about it, adding that the actual target of the US, by providing aid to the LGBT movement is to damage the faith and identity of the Turkish people.
The Turkish government does not allow LGBT activities in the country as numerous LGBT events have been banned in recent years, including the gay pride march in İstanbul, which had been running smoothly since 2003 and attracting tens of thousands of people until it was indefinitely cancelled in 2014.