20/03/2023 | Writer: Selma Koçak
“Our comrade Pınar Selek, we know from Ülker Street and women and LGBTI+ movement struggle for peace, has been on trial for 25 years.”
LGBTI+ organizations made call for Pınar Selek case, which has been going on for 25 years. The next trial of the case, which was given acquittal verdict for four times and appealed each time, will be heard on March 31.
25 LGBTI+ organizations called for a meeting at İstanbul 15th Heavy Penal Court on March 31, at 10.00 am. The whole text of the statement, which reminds Pınar Selek’s studies at Ülker Street and her companionship in the struggle for peace, is as follows:
“If we can raise these kind of steps all together, if we can adopt the discussions regarding social peace search and solutions as a policy, peace become something more than a dream. Since we, the oppressed ones, are the majority. We are woman, poor, gay, Gypsy, Armenian, Kurdish, people living with disabilities, elder, young, child, fat and more and more….”
This is what our feminist comrade Pınar Selek said twenty years ago, within the context of the “Symposium on the Problems of Gays and Lesbians and the Search for Social Peace”.
Our comrade Pınar Selek, we know from Ülker Street and women and LGBTI+ movement struggle for peace, has been on trial for 25 years. Easier said than done, 25 years, 4 acquittals… Overturned acquittals reveals the lack of law and justice every time.
Justice for Pınar Selek is also justice for LGBTI+s. As LGBTI+ organizations, we call out once again for justice for Pınar Selek, who stood by trans women exiled from Ülker Street in 1996, and with whom we walked shoulder to shoulder in the struggle for equality and freedom: Let’s meet at İstanbul 15th Heavy Penal Court on March 31, at 10.00 am. Let’s build the ground of justice within the scope of this symbolic case. This acquittal is ours, and the hope as well.
Signatory LGBTI+ organizations: May 17 Association, 31th İstanbul Pride Week Committee, 7 Tepe 7 Renk (7 Hills 7 Colors), Akdeniz Antalya Families Group, Anadolu (Anatolian) LGBTI+, Ankara University Queer Studies Society (KuirAnka), Ankara Rainbow Families Association (GALADER), Aydın LGBTI+ Solidarity, Boysan’s House, Çanakkale LGBTIA+ Initiative, Galatasaray University Queer Studies Club, Young LGBTI+ Association, HEVİ LGBTI+ Association, Kaos GL Association, Keskesor LGBTI+, Red Umbrella Association, LambdaIstanbul LGBTI+ Solidarity Association, Lavender LGBTIQ+, Families and Friends of LGBTI+s in Turkey (LISTAG), Mersin 7 Colors LGBTI+ Solidarity Association, MorEL (Purple Hand) LGBTI+, Muamma LGBTI+ Association, Free Colors Association, Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association, Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD), UniKuir Association.
Tags: human rights, women
