17/11/2023 | Writer: Selma Koçak
“We call on Cypriot Members of the European Parliament to advocate for an urgent resolution and voice solidarity with the oppressed community in Gaza and support their right to self determination.”
LGBTI+ organizations in Cyprus such as Queer Collective, Queer Cyprus Association and Accept LGBTI Cyprus made a joint statement condemning human rights violations in Gaza. Reminding the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the organizations called on ILGA and ILGYO, LGBTI+ umbrella organizations.
Full text of the joint statement is as follows:
We, the members of Queer Collective, Queer Cyprus Association, and Accept LGBTI Cyprus, strongly denounce the ongoing human rights violations and breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza. As advocates for LGBTQI+ rights, social justice, and human freedoms, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinians’ absolute right to self-determination.
The worsening situation in Gaza has reached a devastating point causing an unacceptable toll of innocent civilians, exceeding 11,000 deaths. We express profound concern about the disproportionate use of force, loss of life, and civilian displacement, urging prompt international action.
We deeply regret the responses of authorities on both sides of the island regarding this matter. We note the Republic of Cyprus abstention at the UN General Assembly, its lack of decisive action in international diplomacy, and its military and intelligence gathering alliance with Israel—actions we demand an immediate halt to.
We call on Cypriot Members of the European Parliament to advocate for an urgent resolution and voice solidarity with the oppressed community in Gaza and support their right to self determination.
The international community must take immediate, decisive action to address this crisis, ensuring human rights for all. As advocates for human rights, we emphasize the need for a just and peaceful resolution in Gaza, respecting the rights of all individuals, including LGBTQI+ members.
We urge organizations, including ILGA Europe and IGLYO, to represent our concerns and use their platforms to pressure political leaders. We call on teams, organizations, and collectives supporting the Palestinian cause to stand against discrimination in all forms.
In our advocacy, it is our duty to actively and continually emphasize, both collectively and independently, the importance of promoting peace. We must also hold our networks accountable for using their platforms to amplify our voices against discrimination and violence.
Calls for solidarity with Gaza from LGBTI+ organizations in Turkey
*Kaos GL Association, May 17 Association, Association for Struggle against Sexual Violence, Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways (WWHR) and LambdaIstanbul LGBTI+ Solidarity Association issued a joint statement in order to stop Israel’s war against the Palestinian people:
“We are aware that Israel has been trying to legitimize violence and genocide against the Palestinian people under the guise of defending women’s and LGBTI+ rights in the region for years. Due to the occupation, the Palestinian people, in particular women and LGBTI+ people, have not been able to have access to their most basic rights and to democracy for many years. Since October7, the blockade and attacks have been taking place in front of the eyes of the whole world, while some countries that claim to be defenders of human rights are adopting an attitude that affirms genocide and occupation.”
*Lavender LGBTIQ+ raised their voices by unfurling a flag over the Faculty of Education saying “From Rojava to Palestine, the struggle of the oppressed peoples is our struggle too.”
* 57 democratic institutions, including the Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies (SPoD) Association, trade unions, platforms, professional organizations, political parties and trade unionists, activists, workers, artists, writers, former MPs and ministers, academics, lawyers, politicians, human rights defenders, 202 people issued a call for fair and lasting peace in the country and the region demanding to stop the war and genocide in Gaza, an end the occupation and freedom for Palestine:
“War and destruction are caused by Israeli expansionism and occupying the Palestinian territories. The Palestinian people’s right of resistance is legitimate. There is no way out of war and violence without a peaceful settlement in which the peoples of Israel and Palestine are equal in the determination of their destiny.”
* UniKuir Association released a statement regarding the Israeli attack on Gaza. In the statement titled “Statement regarding the ongoing genocide in Palestine and criticism from Turkey’s public towards the LGBTI+ civil society” the association said: “We reject the idea which aims to surrender the gains that LGBTI+ people around the world have made through years of struggle against conservative pressure, and which they have made indispensable to democracy in order to legitimize a genocide committed in front of the eyes of the world.”
* The organizations, movements, and individuals from the LGBTIQ+ community in the West Asia and North Africa region have signed a joint statement to condemn and denounce the genocide of the people of Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians. They also affirm their support for the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and liberation from colonial violence and occupation. The organizations demanded lifting the blockade without delay, unrestricted humanitarian aid and stopping the genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people immediately.
*More than 90 civil society organizations from all over the world, including Kaos GL, May 17, Equality Studies Association, Human Rights Association, Women’s Human Rights Association and On Ekim Solidarity from Turkey, wrote to the United Nations and the European Union regarding the situation in Gaza under Israeli aggression.
Addressing the UN Secretary General, the Speaker of the EU Parliament, the EU President and the Secretary General of the International Committee for the Red Cross, non-governmental organizations called the authorities to put pressure on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza saying “nothing should justify this disproportionate collective punishment of an entire population - of which the majority are children.”
* More than four hundred queer and feminist organizations from all over the world have signed the letter written by Palestinian queers against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its use of LGBTI+ rights with the aim of pinkwashing:
“We refuse the instrumentalization of our queerness, our bodies, and the violence we face as queer people to demonize and dehumanize our communities, especially in service of imperial and genocidal acts. We refuse that Palestinian sexuality and Palestinian attitudes towards diverse sexualities become parameters for assigning humanity to any colonized society. We deserve life because we are human, with the multitude of our imperfections, and not because of our proximity to colonial modes of liberal humanity. We refuse colonial and imperialist tactics that seek to alienate us from our society and alienate our society from us, on the basis of our queerness. We are fighting interconnected systems of oppression, including patriarchy and capitalism, and our dreams of autonomy, community, and liberation are inherently tied to our desire for self-determination. No queer liberation can be achieved with settler-colonization, and no queer solidarity can be fostered if it stands blind to the racialized, capitalist, fascist, and imperial structures that dominate us.”
LambdaIstanbul LGBTI+ is among the organizations that signed the text.
Tags: human rights
