06/11/2022 | Writer: Yıldız Tar
Kaos GL brought RTÜK’s broadcasting the call for “Great Family Meeting” as a public service announcement, which targets LGBTI+s, to trial: “Opposition to human rights as a state policy was the message given.”
Kaos GL Association filed a lawsuit against the hate rally held on September 18 in Saraçhane district of İstanbul, and against Radio and Television Supreme Court (RTÜK) due to broadcasting the call for the rally as a public service announcement.
Filing a lawsuit against RTÜK on behalf of Kaos GL due to broadcasting the call for “Great Family Meeting”, which was organized and urged by Fikirde Birlik ve Mücadele Platformu (Consensus and Struggle Platform), as a public service announcement Att. Kerem Dikmen said: “ This video includes footage of protests organized by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex people and the other identities (LGBTI+) who are the equal citizens of Turkish Republic, or segments of society struggling against violation of their rights. Moreover, opposition to LGBTI+ is given as a message by targeting rainbow flags and pennons, all of which symbolize LGBTI+s, through this footage.
Reminding that RTÜK Chair Ebubekir Şahin had uploaded and published the video on the website of RTÜK as a public service announcement as of October 8, without getting the approval of the supreme council, and then he submitted the video and got their approval, Kaos GL demanded to overturn the decision of the supreme council. The association emphasized that RTÜK disregarded its duty to prevent hate speech and gave a message regarding “opposition to human rights as a state policy” by popularizing a video including hate speech, and even though the action was taken, it should be determined to be unlawful.
“It is clear that the content of the video creates hatred against LGBTI+s”
Adding to the petition that Şahin also spread hate speech on his Twitter account, Kaos GL said: “By the way, we would like to point out that the iPhone used by the RTÜK Chair, as seen from the attached screenshot, is produced by Apple, whose general manager is a gay.”
Criticizing the broadcasting of hate speech as a public service announcement by RTÜK in defiance of the decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, the Association used the following statements within the context of the petition:
“When the text flow and the video considered as a whole, it is clearly seen that LGBTI+s are addressed as a disease or virus by claiming that they cause human’s extinction, they destroy the family as a social structure and there is an inverse proportion between the existence of LGBTI+s and gender binary society. As a whole, the existence of LGBTI+ people in the public sphere has been characterized as a threat to public life and an opportunity for an invasion by global lobbies and imperialist powers. And this, regarding the statements in the Constitutional Court decisions, clearly humiliates LGBTI+ people and marginalizes them and considers them as the perpetrators of social negations.
It is clear that the content of the video creates hatred against LGBTI+s and it associates the existence of LGBTI+s with human extinction. Gender equality also guarantees the rights and equality of LGBTI+ people, however the published content was clearly based on opposition to LGBTI+ existence, and showed discrimination against LGBTI+s by classifying it as a fact threatening the family. LGBTI+ existence and LGBTI+s are described as enemies of the family structure which is constitutionally protected and considered as sacred by most of the society. LGBTI+ people were pointed out as the reason for the institutional weakening of the family, the decrease in the population or the population growth rate, the secret aims of the external powers and LGBTI+s were turned into a legitimate targets before the segments of the society who consider the family as sacred. As such, the content of the public service announcement clearly contradicts the provisions of the directive adopted by RTÜK and the Article 8 of the law.”
What is told at the video?
The video call, which was recommended by RTÜK as a public service announcement, for hate rally, includes the following statements:
"If you want to stand up against LGBT propaganda and impositions which have swept the whole world and our country like a virus in the digital age, if you want to stop the global and imperialist lobbies who aims to have a genderless society, reduce the human population and destroy the institution of family, if you want to protect our family, our children and future generations, join our great family meeting. Date: Sunday, September 18, 2022. Gathering at Fatih Saraçhane Parc.”
Hate rallies spread among the provinces
Anti-LGBTI+ hate rallies, which started in İstanbul Saraçhane district, took place in Urfa, Konya and Ankara in October. At the hate rally, which was first held in Şanlıurfa with the call of Şanlıurfa Family Platform, it is announced that the signature campaign for the petition to be submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was continuing. Following Urfa, another hate rally was held in Konya and Konya Metropolitan Mayor Uğur İbrahim Altay participated in the meeting. Last stop of the hate rallies in October was Ankara. Within the scope of the rally, which targeted İstanbul Convention and cartoon films, some banners were carried in Turkish and English.
Translation: Selma Koçak
Tags: human rights, media
