LGBTQ history in Turkey covers the development, contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the history of Turkey and their relation between Turkish politics from the abolition of the Caliphate to modern-day Turkey.

The Ottomans, before the 19th-century, did not base sexual identities on attraction to a specific gender but distinguished between active and passive partners, often distinguished as "the lover" and "the beloved". Therefore, choice of a partner was merely based on taste and not on sexual identity. This made certain types of same-sex attraction permissible, but this attraction was most often legitimized in a pederastic context.

By the late 19th century, homosexual contact started to decline and the focus of desire turned to young girls. Ahmed Cevdet Pasha stated:

Woman-lovers have increased in number, while boy-beloveds have decreased. It is as if the People of Lot have been swallowed by the earth. The love and affinity that were, in Istanbul, notoriously and customarily directed towards young men have now been redirected towards girls, in accordance with the state of nature.

Research shows that the decline is in close relationship to the criminalization of homosexuality in the Western world, which followed repression of the queer community.

After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 and the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk introduced a number of reforms that impacted the view on gay relationships within the country. Atatürk's goal to modernize institutions and cultural traditions was heavily influenced by conservative Western ideals. Christian countries did not allow for non-heterosexual relationships and pressed their ideals on the rest of the world. Under the influence of European modernization, Turkey adapted more and more to European clothing styles and made the wearing of hats mandatory. Refusal to wear these in public had legal consequences. Further behaviour such as open affection for the people of the same sex as well as "feminine" behaviour became stigmatized. This process of "Europeanization" led to a rapid increase of discrimination against the queer community.

After Atatürk, the Turkish government persisted in the process of Europeanization of the country, and until the 1960s homosexuality was not publicly discussed. The queer community had the liberty to participate in all sorts of entertainment and activities. The situation changed with the election of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in 1974, in coalition with the National Salvation Party (MSP). The MSP controlled the Interior Ministry, making queer people the target of repressive policies. The attacks against the community became more frequent and violent. The members of the LGBT+ community kept on fighting for their rights and, to protect themselves, attempted to create their own political identity. Multiple cities became centers of queer resistance such as Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara. With the military coup d'état on September 12, 1980, their effort came to an end.

With the establishment of the military regime, political parties were banned and the freedom of demonstration, association, speech, and the press were censored. The authorities initiated a campaign of mass persecution against the members of the community and trans sex workers were "deported" from the city centers to the outskirts of the city, and arrested from their places of work or in their apartments. The arrested were imprisoned with the political prisoners and had to face psychological and physical torture. In the 1980s, the Radical Democratic Green Party openly declared to be against police brutality and expressed their support in favor of gay rights and the transgender community assaulted by the authorities.