22/12/2023 | Writer: Defne Güzel
LGBTI+ hostility of the politicians went on in November as well, police attacked the protest on November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance, LGBTI+s were continued to be inside of the halls of the courthouse.
Vatan Party targets LGBTI+s
Politicians went on targeting LGBTI+s in November. The lack of a law and legislation to protect LGBTI+s from hate speech was once again highlighted by the targeting of the Vatan Party, which has vowed not to let anyone take the lead in anti-LGBTI+ rhetoric.
At a press conference in November Vatan (Patriot) Party Chairperson Doğu Perinçek said “We will destroy all pro-LGBTI+ or LGBTI+ related administrations of all organizations.” And used the following statement in a post he shared for November 10th “LGBT is a scourge and getting rid of it is an essential duty for us now.”
The candidate of the Vatan Party for the mayoral election of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality promised to fight against LGBTI+s saying “We will close the LGBT branch” and then targeted the budget of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality.
AKP (Justice and Development Party) deputy İnan also targeted LGBTI+s during negotiations on the Family and Youth Fund. While CHP deputies objected to İnan’s remarks, Sırrı Süreyya Önder reacted against the remarks made by Hasan Bitmez of the Felicity Party, which targeted homosexuals.
In November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan negatively included LGBTI+ issues on the agenda of his group meeting and continued to make similar statements in his message on the 2024 Action Plan to Combat Violence against Women.
The Expo Book was also targeted by Yeni Şafak newspaper due to its rainbow-colored decoration.
According to the 12th Development Plan LGBTI+s are “harmful”
Various rights violations also found their place in the media in November, while these discourses escalated hatred towards LGBTI+ people day by day.
Anti-LGBTI+ Prof. Dr. Halit Çalış has been appointed to the Presidency of Religious Affairs. Çalış has posted some messages targeting LGBTI+s such as “LGBT propaganda and imposition is a crime against humanity”, “LGBT is the rebellion of lobbies supported by global capital-politics-media against the values of fıtrat (nature), it is an ideological imposition” and has described LGBTI+ as “the greatest malicious movement against nature in the history of the human race”.
Murat Övüç’s concert in Urfa was cancelled after being targeted. Since Behçet Atila, IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s representative in Şanlıurfa, had share a post saying “Pro-LGBT Murat Övüç is going to perform in Urfa this weekend. The overwhelming majority of the precious people of Şanlıurfa, the city of the prophets, do not want this shame, we are receiving hundreds of messages. This program should be cancelled.”
The body of a transgender person was found on the beach in Kocaeli.
The police attacked the protests regarding the November 20 Transgender Remembrance Day, in İzmir and Mersin. İzmir November 20 Platform made their press statement on the Transgender Remembrance Day in front of the İzmir Bar Association and condemned the police attack at the Free Platform. And the police attacked tarns activists, who gathered for November 20, in Mersin. The activists, who were tried to be detained under torture by the police, were taken back by other activists participating in the demonstration.
12th Development Plan described LGBTI+s as “harmful tendencies”. On the other side, contrary to the statements in the development plan published by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget and approved in the Official Gazette, the development goals of the United Nations (UN) Turkey are included.
Course of the cases in November
The course of the cases in November was as follows:
Sitrak Kaplan case was postponed again.
Halil İbrahim Dinçdağ, who was banned from refereeing because he is gay, is on his way to the ECHR.
The Science Education Esthetic Culture Art Researches Foundation (BEKSAV) trial has been postponed until January 30. In the first hearing of the case against the members of the BEKSAV Cinema Collective for a film screening that was prevented by a police raid during Pride Month, the defendants described the police violence.
Hande Buse Şeker case was postponed to December 5th.
Ankara Pride March case, in which 42 people detained during the 2nd Ankara Pride March are being judged, was postponed to January 31, 2024. The court heard KaosGL.org reporter Aslı Alpar and journalist Emel Vural as witnesses. The journalists talked about the police violence both against them and against the other demonstrators.
9th Boğaziçi Pride March case was postponed to February 23, 2024. The lawyers demanded acquittal for 70 people, who were detained under torture dur to participating in 9th Boğaziçi Pride March.
Public prosecutor submitted a non-prosecution verdict regarding the 9 participants, who were detained during the march, of the Trans Pride March.
Journalist Semra Çelebi who was on trial claiming “publicly degrading the symbols of State sovereignty” due to sharing a Tweet at the 2020 Pride March was acquitted.
Translation: Selma Koçak
Tags: human rights, women
