24/03/2023 | Writer: Selma Koçak

Social Work Day panel, for which Ankara LGBTI+ Earthquake Solidarity was also invited, was held on digital media due to obstacle of Kocaeli University and the hate campaign waged on social media with the hashtag #ailenesahipçıkkocaeli (Kocaeli, protect your family).

Diversity panel in Kocaeli first blocked by the university and then threatened on social media Kaos GL - News Portal for LGBTI+

Turkish Association of Social Workers (SHU-DER) Kocaeli Branch, aimed to organize a panel discussion on March 21, World Social Work Day. The association needed to discuss social work around the theme “Respecting Diversity Through Joint Social Action” all around the world for this year.

The panel discussion, for which Feminist Solidarity for Disaster, Ankara LGBTI+ Earthquake Solidarity and Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) were invited, was to be held in Kocaeli University. However, Kocaeli University blocked the panel by making a statement on social media.

The event was relocated in Education and Science Laborers Union (Eğitim-Sen). A hate campaign was risen on social media against the presentation regarding the problems experienced by LGBTI+ earthquake survivors, made by Ankara LGBTI+ Earthquake Solidarity. Threatening and insulting messages were posted with the hashtag #ailenesahipçıkkocaeli. 

 Then the event was completed as an online meeting. On the other side, Eğitim-Sen and SHU-DER told the incidents by making a joint statement and said: “Despite hate, we will build an equal and free world altogether, we will not give up on each other.”


Tags: human rights, education
2024