In another blow to human rights in Turkey, the country’s 14th Criminal Court has ordered the censoring of Grindr as a ‘protection measure’.

Hayriye Kara, a lawyer for LGBT rights organisation Kaos GL, said: ‘The court decision is not published online and so we have no access to the procuration and therefore do not yet know what was the reason for the censorship. It is very likely that the decision might be related to “general morality”, an ambiguous term used often against trans sex workers.’

Ömer Akpınar, Media Coordinator for Kaos GL, slammed the Turkish government for the censorship of the dating app, pointing out that censoring Grindr is part of a long line in limitations on the freedom of Turkish people. ‘Any lifestyle or identity which does not fit to the state’s ideology,’ he said, ‘is being deprived of their rights and freedoms.

‘The Turkish government, through the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, increasingly uses the discourse on the “traditional heterosexual family’ as a pretext to suppress LGBT rights.’

‘This is part of a larger trend of blocking the freedom of information in the wake of the Gezi Park demonstrations.’

‘In its justifications for suppressing freedom of information under the guise of “responsible reporting”, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is trying to create a division between “good and bad citizens”.’

‘LGBT people have never been considered as equal citizens all through the history of Turkish Republic.’

Grindr CEO and founder Joel Simkhai said: ‘Grindr was created to help facilitate the connection between gay men – especially in countries where the LGBT community is oppressed. We hope that this is only temporary and quickly gets overturned as our community should not be silenced.’

Based in Los Angeles, Grindr has more than 6 million users in 192 countries around the world. The average user logs in eight times a day to check their messages.