23/06/2022 | Writer: Selma Koçak
İstanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Committee and SPoD brought the bans on Pride Week to the court: These type of events are not subject to permission, they are under constitutional assurance.
İstanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Committee and SPoD brought a suit against the bans on Pride Week. Social organizations appealed to the court for the stay of execution related to the ban decisions of Beyoğlu and Kadıköy District Governorships.
In the lawsuit petition, it is remarked that the ban decision of Kadıköy District Governorship was not publicly announced beforehand, and that administrative organizations act imprecisely when they restrict fundamental rights and freedoms.
“States have to protect the people who participate in peaceful rallies”
Attorney of SPoD Umut Rojda Yıldırım said: “Struggle for LGBTI+ rights and all kind of events within the context of this fight are under constitutional and conventional assurance.” in the lawsuit petition in which they narrated the history of LGBTI+ Pride Week, and continued as follows:
“These kind of events are not subject to permission and they are under constitutional assurance. According to the Article 13 of Constitution, fundamental rights and freedoms may be districted only by law. Let alone the content of the decision, such a prohibition is even unconstitutional due to being out of order, that is to say it was not done by law, the manner of action is unconstitutional.”
Reminding that a probable risk cannot become grounds for the ban, Att. Yıldırım said: “States have to protect not only public property and public safety but also the people, who participate in peaceful rallies, from the ones who resort to violence. Public safety / public order means an atmosphere, where people are able to use their fundamental rights and freedoms at their best, not an atmosphere, where the citizens have to be guarded from the state.”
Ban decisions on Pride March are removed by the court at every turn
Att. Yıldırım also reminded that these kind of ban decisions related to Pride Marches or other events were taken in previous years as well, however all of them were removed by the court at every turn:
“Let alone the events planned within the context of the Pride Week, even the ban decision on Pride Marches are removed due to being against law. Moreover these ban decisions are reacted by world public opinion for years and they cause criticism against the state due to bolstering discrimination up, in the international violation of human rights reports. In addition, these ban decisions, as mentioned in the reports in all conscience, legitimate violent acts of discriminatory mindset in Turkey and augment the crimes targeting gays and trans by bolstering the idea, that LGBTI+s are ‘foster children’ of the state, up. Likewise, the language preferred by the defendant administration in the text of the ban decision, that is to say the distinction between the personal pronouns ‘the parties / groups’ versus ‘our citizens’, is the obvious indicator of the fact.”
Tags: human rights