12/02/2024 | Writer: Selma Koçak
New Welfare Party targeted LGBTI+ people once again in its election manifesto. Erbakan said that they would close down LGBTI+ associations.
Yeniden Refah Partisi (New Welfare Party), which started its local election campaign with an anti-LGBTI+ video, announced its election manifesto on Saturday 10 February at the Ankara Atatürk Sports Hall. Fatih Erbakan, the leader of the New Welfare Party, whose first advertisement as part of the “Moral Municipalism” campaign was “If there is no morality, there is LGBT”, once again targeted LGBTI+ people in his speech. Erbakan said that they would close all LGBTI+ associations if they came to power in 2028.
Erbakan’s statements are as follows:
“Our esteemed nation, under attack by perverted organizations and global LGBT lobbies, it is the honorable duty of New Welfare Party to combat the scourge of LGBTI perversion, which is a global assault on humanity and nature. We staunchly oppose the global powers’ agenda for a genderless society. New Welfare Party’s primary mission is to confront these organizations promoting immorality and perversion through so-called pride marches. We refuse to sacrifice our youth to these corrupting influences that hinder them from leading lives of decency and modesty. We will not allow the innocent children of our beloved nation to fall victim to the schemes of LGBT lobbies. New Welfare Party-led municipalities will take all necessary measures against them in our cities, including preventing their propaganda, advertising, and activities. We will systematically shut down the gender offices established by Sculptor Municipalism, and upon assuming power in 2028, we will close down all LGBT associations, one by one."
New Welfare Party targeted LGBTI+ people in many articles of its election manifesto. The following statements were included in the manifesto:
“While ‘rent-seeking municipalism’ rots our institutions, another understanding offered as an alternative to it is ‘sculpture municipalism’. This understanding seeks to cover the basic needs of our nation with statues. Morality is polluted with LGBTI propaganda.
The perverted understanding of LGBTI, supported by dirty lobbies, is an attack on the future of our generations and an attempt to build a genderless society in the name of gender equality by eliminating the natural difference between men and women.”
İstanbul Trans Pride Week protest attacked on the day New Welfare Party announced its election manifesto!
On the day when New Welfare party announced its election manifesto, members of İstanbul Trans Pride Week who were protesting against the anti-LGBTI+ rhetoric of the New Welfare Party were attacked by police. 11 people were detained under torture during the protest, and Pride Week lawyers and press workers who reacted to the torture were removed from the area. Following the release of the detainees, İstanbul Trans Pride Week issued the following statement:
“You’re threatening our physical safety, and we’re fully aware of that. However, we refuse to back down. We will continue our fight, lodging all necessary objections. As transgender individuals, we reiterate from here: you cannot remove us from the streets, campuses, parliament, workplaces, hospitals, or any other area of life. We exist. Our presence grows stronger each day! Long live our transgender struggle across all aspects of life!”
Tags: human rights
