04/10/2023 | Writer: Kaos GL
We declare that we are open to meeting and acting together with all groups and institutions that object to a constitution that does not include human rights and universal norms such as the state of law, social state, secular state and social peace.
The Constitutional amendment, which was put aside after the earthquake, officially entered our agenda again with the speech of the President R. Tayyip Erdoğan to the Turkish Grand National Assembly on October 2, 2023. We are aware that what is intended is not to expand rights and freedoms. Today, a politics that tries to limit and eliminate our freedom is spreading with all its might. Everyone should know that a constitutional amendment that curtails the rights of LGBTI+ people will be used by those governing the state, in the future, to limit the rights of everyone who is not like them. Considering the historical fact that no government is permanent, it will be inevitable that those who applaud these changes today or remain silent will become victims in the future when different governments implement the constitution.
We, like everyone else, acknowledge Turkey's need for a civilian constitution. However, the indispensable part of a civil constitution-making process is participation. It is not possible for a constitution that excludes society in all its diversity and whose construction process just consists of Parliament corridor lobbies and inter-party bargaining, to be civil. The fact that then AKP Parliament Speaker collected opinions from non-governmental organizations, including Kaos GL, during the studies on the new constitution in 2012 is an indication of this.
As Kaos GL and 17 May associations, we have been making plans to centralize our advocacy work for a while and thus increase its impact. We crowned our efforts to make human rights advocacy more organized, including all our stakeholders, against these limiting tendencies towards our rights, with the existence of our advocacy working group.
We are as strong today as we were in the past. Our massiveness is the concern of those who keep us away from public spaces and turn the streets into detention centers.
While this constitutional amendment tries to create a constitutional basis for attacks against LGBTI+ people, it will also mean that the understanding of the beleaguered secular state will be further weakened. That's why we recognize that our allies are broader than ever before in opposing this constitutional amendment. However, we also know that the only way for this objection to be successful is through the coming together of pluralist subjects who see differences as social diversity
With this awareness, we announce to the public that our advocacy working group has started its activities. We declare that we are open to meeting and acting together with all groups and institutions that object to a constitution that does not include human rights and universal norms such as the state of law, social state, secular state and social peace.
Kaos GL & May 17 Associations
Tags: human rights
