01/08/2024 | Writer: Kaos GL
ILGA Europe published an information note on the 2024 Pride Month events in Turkey. In the information note, the “2024-2028 Action Plan for the Protection and Strengthening of the Family” and Numan Kurtulmuş’s meeting with the Big Family Platform were noted as “alarming developments”.
Photograph: Erdoğan Alayumat
“This year’s Pride season in Turkey saw continued bans on LGBTI+ themed events, as well as police repression, as the government continues to disregard the fundamental right to freedom of assembly and expression for LGBTI+ people,” said ILGA Europe within the scope of the information note. It is also underlined that LGBTI+ activists across the country stepped up their tactics to avoid police repression, bans and arrests as much as possible.
In the information note, it is highlighted that following the national elections of May 2023, and the municipal elections of March 2024, both marred by significant anti-LGBTI+ rhetoric, smear campaigns, and misinformation, institutionalisation of anti-LGBTI+ actions is on the rise:
“The international community must not be fooled by the reduction in arrests and violence during this year’s Pride season – much of this was avoided by the creativity and resilience of Pride organisers. Meanwhile hatred against LGBTI+ people from government and institutions is still coordinated and becoming more entrenched in policy.”
In June, the Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Göktaş presented the new 2024-2028 Action Plan for the Protection and Strengthening of the Family. This Action Plan contains measures to combat “deviant harmful ideology” of LGBTI+ people. The Minister stated that “Family structure is being destroyed by impositions carried out on a global scale” and President Erdogan added that “the imposition of LGBT has become a tool of tyranny, oppression and the corruption of society that even surpasses fascism.”
The new “2024-2028 Action Plan for the Protection and Strengthening of the Family” presented by the Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Göktaş was noted as an “alarming development” in the information note. In the information note stating that the Action Plan targets LGBTI+ persons, Numan Kurtulmuş’s meeting with the anti-LGBTI+ Big Family Platform in the Parliament was also included.
The information note also drew attention to the 2024-2028 Action Plan of the Presidency of Religious Affairs and highlighted that the General Directorate of Religious Publications is expected to prepare 40 publications similar to the “Family Magazine” by the end of 2028 in order to "protect the family against deviant ideologies that threaten the family".
The information note included the following statements:
“As we raise these alarming developments, we continue to call on international institutions to raise these issues in all relevant meetings with Turkish authorities, and for donors to further support Turkish LGBTI+ civil society in the face of the increased state-led repression.”
ILGA Europe Aftermath of 2024 Turkey Pride Month
ILGA Europe summarized the aftermath for Pride Month 2024 as follows:
METU Pride March: On the METU student campus, Pride took place without intervention, as organisers moved the start time from 18:00 to noon.
Eskişehir Pride March: Ten LGBTI+ activists were detained and subjected to torture. For the first time since 2015, four of the detained activists were referred to court with a demand for arrest. Later, all four of them were released.
Ankara Pride March: The Ankara Pride committee, in response to police barricades and water cannons set up in many parts of the city, organised the march on another route. The police were therefore unable to intervene and no one was detained.
10th İstanbul Trans Pride: The Istanbul governor’s office blocked metro stations in anticipation of Trans Pride, and hundreds of police officers were sent to the Beyoğlu, Şişli, and Beşiktaş districts, setting up checkpoints, barricades, and water cannons to blockade many roads. As a result, organisers decided not to hold a mass march; instead, they hung trans flags in different public locations. Two people were detained while sitting inside a café.
İzmir Pride March: In İzmir the Pride march was held in Bornova one day before the official march was called to go ahead. This change in timing prevented any interventions.
İstanbul Pride March: During Pride week in Istanbul, two events, one in Şişli and one in Kadıköy, were banned by district governors. The Istanbul Governorship issued a ban on Taksim and Istiklal Street in the early hours of the day of the Istanbul Pride march and described the Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week Committee as “various illegal groups”. The police were waiting at Taksim, Beyoğlu but the activists held the march instead at Bağdat Street of Kadıköy (on the Anatolian side) which was the first Istanbul Pride march on the Anatolian side of the city. Activists made a press statement and marched for approximately ten minutes before the police caught up and dispersed the crowd. Eleven people were arrested after the march ended, three of which were minors, who were handcuffed behind their backs in violation of the Child Protection Law. All were released after approximately eight hours.
Antalya Pride Week: All protests and events were banned by the governorship for 15 days, from 1-15 July, when Pride events were due to take place. The Pride march went ahead on July 14 and it was attacked by police, who arrested four participants.
Tags: human rights
