26/05/2023 | Writer: Yıldız Tar
“This election is a referendum on whether the 12th President's rule will continue or not, whether the one-man regime in the country will come to an end or not.”
14 LGBTI+ associations issued a joint statement on the second round of the presidential elections. Emphasizing that both Presidential candidates resorted to hate speech during the election process, the associations said that the one-man regime must end despite this.
The full text of the statement is as follows:
The election period is long and painful for all of us. The bitter pills we swallowed during the election are now overflowing the cup. Before the elections and during the first round of the elections, LGBTI+ people were often targeted and the focus of hate speech, while racism and refugee hostility also dominated in the second round.
We are following the hate speech directed at various segments of society by both candidates with concern and anger. As if it is not enough that our rights to democratic participation, organization and assembly are being taken away from us day by day with the effort to deprive us from the public sphere, we see the entry of HUDA-PAR and Yeniden Refah Party, which present closing our associations as a "promise", into the parliament as a sign that hatred, discrimination and violence will escalate in the coming days.
As we have been saying for months, we are aware that the presidential elections are a referendum. This election is a referendum on whether the 12th President's rule will continue or not, whether the one-man regime in the country will come to an end or not. Yes, we will continue to be in the opposition regardless of the outcome. But this election is also the election of under which conditions and against whom we will oppose from now on.
We call out to LGBTI+'s and rights defenders;
We do not rely on promises hidden behind the politics of hate, but on our organized struggle that guarantees our equality and freedom. For this reason, we invite all LGBTI+s and LGBTI+ rights defenders to the polls on May 28th to vote and protect our votes, emphasizing that voting is the right of all of us and that the vote we cast must be counted in a way that leaves no room for any suspicion.
As of May 29, we call on all of us to organize, solidarity and struggle side by side, shoulder to shoulder, to put an end to LGBTI+ and refugee hostility, to end the trustee regime, to return to the Istanbul Convention, to defend our lives and rights, regardless of who wins.
We call out to the whole society;
We have been here since the beginning of history. We are your classmates at school, your neighbors in the neighborhood, your colleagues in the factory, in the fields, in the office, your relatives, your friends, in short, the people you are with in every aspect of life.
Maybe we are invisible sometimes. But this does not change the fact that we exist.
And we want to live together in peace, to be equal, to be free. This is our only goal, our only plan.
Do not leave the hand of peace we extend to you in the air.
Do not believe in the conspiracies told to you. When you go to the polls, do not make your decision based on these conspiracies.
We claim our votes, our lives and our free will!
We protect our votes, our lives and our free will in the May 28th Presidential Election Second Round Voting, which has become one of the most important stages of the LGBTI+ movement's persistent struggle for dignity, and we do not leave the ballot boxes!
Signatory associations:
1. Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD)
2. May 17 Association
3. Ankara Rainbow Families Association (GALADER)
4. Young LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
5. HEVI LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
6. Kaos GL Association
7. Red Umbrella Association
8. Lambdaistanbul LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
9. LGBTI+ Families and Relatives Association (LISTAG)
10. Mersin 7 Colors LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
11. Muamma LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
12. Free Colors LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
13. Pink Life LGBTI+ Solidarity Association
14. UniKuir Association
Tags: human rights
