Turkey’s ruling government is agitating against the country’s LGBT community in a bid to rebuild polarise society further for political gain, researcher Tunay Altay wrote in Bianet on Saturday. Altay uses the authorities’ rhetorical and police responses to the protests at Bogazici University that began in January to illustrate how the state is fostering animosity against LGBT Turks. The protests, which began against a government-appointed rector at Turkey’s most prestigious sparked an official backlash aimed at the community. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remarked that “There was no such thing as LGBT” and compared the protests to terrorists. Others, including coalition partner and head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli, attacked opposition politicians who stood up for LGBT protestors in Turkey or who criticized the crackdown on the university.