10/10/2022 | Writer: Kerem Selçuk

“Rather than waging war against the LGBTI community, it would be wiser to act against the deepening poverty, hunger and debt.”

Labor Party President Akdeniz: Sexual orientation can never be a crime Kaos GL - News Portal for LGBTI+

Ercüment Akdeniz, the leader of EMEP (Labor Party), has released a press on the discussions revolving around wearing headscarves, AKP’s agenda on bringing changes to the constitution, and the AKP leader president Erdoğan’s statements targeting the LGBTI community.

Saying that it is not the LGBTI community that threatens laborer families, but the AKP government and that the government’s discourse on headscarves is rather a facade, Akdeniz has continued his statement as follows:

“The tension between Kılıçdaroğlu and Erdoğan on the issue of wearing headscarves has gained a new dimension upon the president’s statement on his return from Czechia.

“Erdoğan had previously stated that a new constitution involving regulations about family and the Alevi community was in progress. On his on-the-spot press at the airport, he involved the LGBTI community in his agenda on the new constitution.

“Erdoğan has the habit of reflecting minority identities as potential criminals. This time, once again, he targeted the LGBTI community, claiming that they are a big threat to the family institution and the ‘great nation’. Let alone claiming that the LGBTI community commits a crime against the established order, Erdoğan has also invented non-existent laws in the constitution that serve against ‘LGBTIers’ and their allies.

“Regarding the AKP government’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, Erdoğan’s argument was again that the convention posed a threat to the family institution.

“Yet, we do know what strengthening the family institution stands for. Thus far, women regardless of their wearing a headscarf have been manipulated by the government for its own agenda and have ended up being the poorest and the most oppressed members of society. Those segregating women as wearing a headscarf and not wearing one have rendered them equal in the context of poverty, making both parties weak in the face of the capital. Every day, more and more women wearing headscarves are becoming aware of this fact.

“Now, the LGBTI community is the new culprit and those fighting against the injustice and the oppression the community has been facing are the new criminals.

“NO! Sexual orientation can never be a crime. It’s the policies of the AKP government that are the enemies of the laborer families, not the LGBTI community. The one-man regime, that places the burden of the whole family on the vulnerable shoulders of the women and that does not take even a single step against preventing the violence against them should give up on targeting the LGBTI community and should regulate the constitution in a way that recognizes each citizen equally. For, in this direction, the government will not be able to increase the number of its existing voters.

“It is also unlikely to hope for a new institution as your government will not be able to achieve its intentions.

“Rather than waging war against the LGBTI community, it would be wiser to act against the deepening poverty, hunger, and debt. There is no way to disguise your corruption through such an invented agenda as wearing a headscarf or such.

“As is the case for all the oppressed minorities, our party will be standing in solidarity with the LGBTI community in their struggle for equal rights and ending the violence.”


Tags: human rights
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