19/04/2019 | Writer: Yıldız Tar
Lawyer Hayriye Kara and Lawyer Kerem Dikmen from Kaos GL commented on the appeal of the Ankara Governorate’s ban
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Lawyer Hayriye Kara and Lawyer Kerem Dikmen from Kaos GL commented on the appeal of the Ankara Governorate’s ban declared on November 2017 relying on the state of emergency decree law: “It is the obligation of the state to recognize and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of LGBTI+s ‘. Even in the State of Emergency they cannot impose such ban.”
Regarding Kaos GL’s request of appeal, Ankara 12th Administrative Court has lifted the blanket ban on LGBTI+ events in Ankara relying on state of emergency decree law. The court has ruled that the ban is unlawful, and security of the events must be ensured rather than banning them.
Kaos GL’s lawyers Hayriye Kara and Kerem Dikmen commented on the decision to KaosGL.org:
“Security must be ensured instead of the ban”
Stating that it is the obligation of the state to recognize and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of LGBTI+s, Lawyer Hayriye Kara said:
“We can say that the court has accepted our arguments that we have advocated since the day when the ban has declared. Instead of banning fundamental rights and freedoms to protect social peace, they said that the group that is vulnerable to any attack should be protected. They underlined that law enforcement should take necessary security measures instead of prohibitions. It can be said that the court ruled that state must protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of LGBTI+s”.
Regarding the second ban decision sent to the police on 3rd of October 2018, Kara told:
“The second ban decision also relies on the same grounds with the previous ban. Similarly, this ban is also indefinite; therefore, lifting of the blanket ban can set an example for our second appeal.”
“Such ban cannot be imposed even under state of emergency”
Reminding that Ankara 2nd Administrative Courts rejection of the second appeal of Kaos GL on the grounds that “there would be no legal results for the applicant association and the ban do not violate the rights and interests of the association”, Lawyer Kerem Dikmen told:
“Technically we can say that there is no ban in force, internal correspondence cannot have a quality to ban the events.”
Regarding the lifting decision, Dikmen said:
“This is a late but important decision. We can comment that the court ruled that even under state of emergency such ban cannot be imposed, you must clearly state what is banned and your duty is to prevent the attacks of third parties instead of banning the events”.
Translation: Damla Umut Uzun
Related news:
The blanket ‘state of emergency’ ban on LGBTI+ events in Ankara has been lifted
Tags: human rights
