12/10/2021 | Writer: Selma Koçak
“We remind our emphasis on ‘İstanbul Convention Keeps You Alive’ and ‘LGBTI+ Rights Are Human Rights’”
Turkish Psychologists Association, İzmir Branch made a statement about two students intervened by private security forces during the Graduation Ceremony of 9 Eylül University, Faculty of Literature, because of their masks written “Istanbul Convention Keeps You Alive” on and for carrying rainbow flags. They announced that they will struggle against all kinds of violence at the statement:
“We are witness of recently ever-increasing oppressive approaches at universities. Hereby we would like to repeat and remind our emphasis on ‘İstanbul Convention Keeps you Alive’ and ‘LGBTI+ Rights Are Human Rights!’ now and again. We condemn the reactions against anti-discrimination and harsh responses towards our students and colleagues, who were subjected to violence as a consequence. We would like to indicate that we will struggle together and be hand in hand against all kinds of violence once again.”
“We are with the resident graduates against the obstacles!”
İzmir Young LGBTI+ Association also made a statement related to the attack last week. The association expressed its solidarity with the graduates as:
“This experience is a concrete indicator of hatred of women and LGBTI+, the attacks against the İstanbul Convention and the obstructions to the freedom of expression. Meanwhile, the academicians of the Faculty of Letters and university administrators who were sitting at the protocol and the academicians from the Department of Psychology who were at the stage, are all part of this crime because they kept their silence though their students were beaten.
We invite all the students of the Department of Psychology, who are going to graduate and begin to work as psychologists and the graduated ones who kept their silence when their classmates were subjected to hate crime and battered in front of their eyes, to think about what keeping silence against a crime means.
We want to remind that we are with the students who are resisting in spite of all the oppressions and obstacles and we would like to say once again, get used to it, we are not going anywhere!”
Tags: human rights, education
