26/07/2023 | Writer: Defne Güzel
Violation of rights against LGBTI+s in June
Pride Month brought various celebrations, events and pride marches over. On the other side law enforcement officers, so to speak, chased after events in the Pride Month. LGBTI+s, who wanted to celebrate their existence, were subjected to lawless detentions. LGBTI+s were subjected to multiple violations of rights, from having picnic to putting ban on drinking tea, in June.
Violation of rights series against Pride Month events, which were held in June and July, dressed up particularly detentions, ban orders by governorships and district governorships and hate actions organized by anti-LGBTI+ alliances.
- Totally five ban orders, 2 of which by Şişli District Governorship, 2 of by Kadıköy District Governorship and 1 by Datça District Governorship, were imposed by district governorships on the events.
- Ege University put a ban on events, while METU Rectorate imposed a ban on the march. Thus two ban orders were issued by two rectorates.
- At least 11 protests and events were intervened in by using physical violence. One event was prevented. At least 241 people were taken into custody. Five non-Turkish citizens, who were detained in İstanbul, were sent to Removal Centers.
- Events organized by Ankara Bar Association and İzmir Bar Association were exposed to phobic attacks. The activity of the İstanbul Bar Association was targeted by opposed groups.
CLICK – Chronology of Pride Month: Bans couldn’t prevent LGBTI+s
Other violation of rights against LGBTI+s, excluding Pride Months interventions, were as follows:
Targeting has increased, Sarıyer Emirgan Primary School teacher was suspended because of Melih Gökçek
Targeting by partisan media has completely increased in June. While A Haber targeted the toilets of a shopping mall in Şişli, İstanbul, Sabah targeted Gender Equality Summit. Municipality Youth Education Center was also pointed out as a target by Sabah.
- In the midst of right violations, the most striking one was the suspension of Sarıyer Emirgan Primary School teacher Emine Yahşi and school principal Emine Kızıldağ, having been targeted by Melih Gökçek. He targeted them on the grounds of decorating the school garden in rainbow-colors for the report card ceremony. Parents reacted against the incident imposed on the teachers.
- Another name among the actors of targeting was Cübbeli Ahmet. Cübbeli Ahmet warned people, who has gay friends. In addition LGBTI+s were also on Head of Ottoman Hearths’ agenda.
- İstanbul Bar Association No. 2 also targeted Pride Month under the pretext of public order.
- Hamza Dağ, Yavuz Ağıralioğlu, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin and Doğu Perinçek were at the political side of the targeting. Perinçek also objected to the use of English word “gender” written in the gender section of identity cards. As for Erdoğan, he criticized the opposition for hate speech and accused them by saying “You are LGBTI supporters”.
- The exhibition hold in Feshane by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality on June 22th, was targeted on the grounds such as “LGBT terrorism, sexuality, Gezi celebration”. Özlem Doğan was at the head of the protest against the exhibition.
You can find hate speech against LGBTI+s in detail in the report prepared by Ali Erol.
Concert bans
- Concert bans were among the major issues discussed in June. The concert of Melike Şahin, who supports LGBTI+ rights, was banned by the Justice and Development Party (AKP)-run Bursa Metropolitan Municipality.
- Similar to Melike Şahin, whose Denizli concert was also cancelled, the Denizli concert of Mabel Matiz, who declared their support for LGBTI+ rights, was also cancelled.
The TİHEK has run to form and has once again failed to fulfil its responsibilities in the human rights field
Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye (TİHEK) committed further violations. TİHEK, which issued a violation decision against the artist Gülşen, by disregarding her freedom of expression, didn’t consider the application regarding refusal to admit the gay couple to the venue as a violation and rejected the request to prepare framework recommendations to prevent discrimination and hate speech during the election process. TİHEK was the best when it came to failing to fulfill its duty.
Other news items reflected to the press that could be categorized as violation were as follows:
Hate poster, threat, censorship, torture…. How would you prefer your violation?
- On June 9th, police attacked women from Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) in Eskişehir, due to unfurling transgender flag. Detainees were kept waiting in the bus handcuffed behind their back. They were beaten and insulted by the police.
- Dismission verdict about Dr. Larin Kayataş upon a complaint to Presidency of Communication Center (CİMER), was approved by the Administrative Court too. There is no evidence of dereliction of duty in the case file, where Dr. Larin Kayataş’s private life is officially on trial.
- Trans activist Buse Kılıçkaya was subjected to threatening phone calls by a man who said his name was Mehmet Yılmaz. The same person also called Kılıçkaya’s sister and said “Your sibling is dead.” Kılıçkaya filed a criminal complaint against him, who even knows her TR ID number.
- Two organizations named Genç Refah (Young Welfare) and Darusselam İlim ve Yardımlaşma Derneği (Darusselam Science and Assistance Association) hung hate banners targeting LGBTI+s in Bursa and Konya.
- AKP Central Decision and Executive Board Member Dora Kübra Yıldız took-off the t-shirt of a child in front of the camera, in a village in Africa because it was written PRIDE on the t-shirt.
- Ministry of Commerce launched an investigation into the GAP brand over PRIDE t-shirts.
- The medical doctors’ pledge was censored by the ÇAPA Faculty of Medicine once again. The university administration attempted to censor the expression of “sexual orientation”, however a group students didn’t let them pass by shouting out “sexual orientation of patients”.
- OnlyFans, which is a platform frequently used by content producers, was blocked to access.
- Fikirde Birlik ve Mücadele Platformu (Consensus and Struggle Platform), presented 150.000 signatures collected for the closure of LGBTI+ associations to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
- Great Family Platform (BAP) was established. The organization stated in its manifesto that they will be on alert against those, who threaten the family.
- The rainbow flag, which was hung over the provincial building of Workers’ Party of Turkey, was removed by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) organizations in Konya. After TİP hung the flag again, a rainbow flag war, which was also reflected on social media, started in Konya.
- AKP-run Kozlu Municipality painted the stairs, which were in rainbow colors, in a different color upon the reactions. The fact that the new colors chosen by the Municipality were the colors of transgender flag made social media users laugh a lot. And LGBTI+ activists responded the issue by saying “We have many colors.”
Course of the cases
The course of the cases in June was as follows:
- The case brought against the participants of 2022 Eskişehir Pride March was resulted in acquittal.
- All cases brought against the 2021 İstanbul Pride March were resulted in acquittal.
- 9th Boğaziçi Pride March case was postponed to November 2nd.
- The case of Ecem Seçkin, who was slaughtered by Mustafa Fidan, was postponed to September 29th.
- A lawsuit was brought against the trans woman, who was beaten by the police, the expert refuted the indictment.
- The sentence of the murderer was finalized regarding Nefes Balkan’s death. The murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment..
- The trial of 42 people, who were beaten during the 2nd Ankara Pride March, was postponed to September 28th.
You can also report hate crimes that you have experienced or witnessed as a person or an organization.
Translation: Selma Koçak
Tags: human rights
