24/06/2024 | Writer: Kaos GL
The 10th Trans Pride March occurred across various districts and neighborhoods of Istanbul on Sunday, June 23, under the theme “The State as the Perpetrator.” The organizers projected a laser message on the Bosphorus Bridge reading, “Did my courage force your mind? We are not silent, we are on the street.”
Photograph: Tuğçe Yılmaz
According to a report by Tuğçe Yılmaz from Bianet, the Istanbul Governorate closed Taksim and Şişhane Metro stations ahead of the march. Numerous police and TOMAs blockaded the streets in the Şişli, Beyoğlu, and Kadıköy districts.
During the 10th Trans Pride March, LGBTI+ activists did not organize a mass march. Instead, they hung trans flags on the Okmeydanı Bridge and Mecidiyeköy metrobus stop, and read the press statement in different districts of the city.
The press release included the following statements:
“The 10th Istanbul Trans Pride March is happening everywhere, we are everywhere! Under the theme ‘State as Perpetrator,’ we are asserting our visibility and existence as trans individuals, refusing to abandon the city or the streets! We are the trans people you have driven into hopelessness, economic hardship, and stripped of our right to life. We are here, we are everywhere.
Last year, we held the 9th Istanbul Trans Pride March in Harbiye on June 18. This year, despite all bans, obstacles, and repression, we are the trans people you have displaced from our homes and streets. We are here, we are everywhere!
Why ‘State as Perpetrator’?
We have not forgotten Süleyman the Hose, the attacks in Esat and Eryaman, the violence in Ülker Street, the abusive Hanifi Zengin, and the torture by law enforcement. We have not forgotten the girls evicted from Bayram Street. We have not forgotten the attack in Izmir's Bornova Street just three months ago!
For these reasons, the state is the perpetrator behind the deprivation of life rights of all trans people. The state is the perpetrator behind the hate crime murder of Hande Kader in 2016, due to the government's criminalization of sex work.
The state is responsible for the discriminatory policies that targeted and led to the suicides of trans individuals like Eylül Cansın, Okyanus Efe, Figen, and many others.
The state is the perpetrator behind the deaths of Ecem Seçkin, Damla, Biricik Sultan, Zirve, Dilan, and Palmiye Deniz!
We are the trans individuals repeatedly targeted by discriminatory policies, marginalized, isolated, and whose solidarity is obstructed, homes and jobs taken, and pushed out of society by so-called family policies. We are here! We are everywhere!
We said we would take over the entire city.
We do not give up on our lives!
Look at how we have reclaimed the streets you tried to confine us from! We are united. We recognize that all oppressions are connected and that those who seek to dominate us are the source of violence. We are here to show that our solidarity cannot be broken by declaring ‘State as Perpetrator!’
We stand together against state violence towards queer people in Turkey and Kurdistan! We are here with our families against the hatred rising from the so-called ‘Great Family Meeting’ in Istanbul’s Saraçhane!
We are here for the Palestinian people whose right to self-determination has been taken away!
We are here to defend our will, to reject trustees, to fight against lawlessness! For sex workers, political prisoners, the Saturday Mothers/People, the massacre in İliç, the detained activists on May 1, the street animals you try to kill, those fighting the ongoing fires in Mardin and Amed, and many more, we are here for all queers and trans children!
We are here for what you have stolen from us and for our lives. Eleven years ago, today, we stood together at the 4th Trans Pride March during Gezi. We knew then, as we know now, that the state is the perpetrator.
We will not give up on our lives, our existence, our identities!”
During the 10th Trans Pride March, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Istanbul MPs Özgül Saki and Kezban Konukçu also hung a trans flag on the Atatürk Bridge in Golden Horn in order to be in solidarity with trans people.
Two trans activists were detained on the day of the march. 10th Trans Pride Week Committee announced the detentions as follows:
“Today, on the Trans Pride March Day, we received information that two of our friends were detained on the street. One was taken from a cafe and was put into an unmarked white vehicle instead of a police car. We are keeping track of our friends' situation.”
According to news from Bianet, the 10th Trans Pride Week Committee projected a laser message on the Bosphorus Bridge reading, “Did my courage force your mind? We are not silent, we are on the street.”
Tags: human rights
