This was a very emotional moment outside the palace of justice in Istanbul last Sunday. Two men running towards each other, jumping with impatience; They hugged, and just stood there for a moment, stuck together. The tall man was blindly fighting tears, and wiping his eyes, but small of both appeared comfortably. He replaced with a smile for a nearby group: “Nobody is allowed us to criminalize LGBTQ+ people,” he said perfectly.
In the late 40s, this gray-child person is a famous TV presenter Irrfan Dergency in Türkiye. He presented the news broadcast for more than 25 years by the end of last year and moved into politics. Degirmenci was a candidate of Türkiye (TIP) party (TIP) candidate in the Mayor election in the capital Ankara, and although he lost, he remained politically active. Last Saturday, he was arrested while giving a speech at an LGBTQ+ event for Istanbul Pride Week along with 41 others.
Ban and police action
The Governor of Istanbul, Dawat Guel made a threatening statements.
In the context of the LGBTQ+ community, he wrote on X that “some marginal groups” had called upon people to gather for a rally. Governor Guel said the call “reduce social peace, family structure and moral values” and will not be tolerated.
He said that the police said, which no one followed the ban on incidents.
The next day, the security forces further further with a rift on those who were especially in the Istanbul Pride Parade. The march was already announced, but was not allowed to move forward.
Despite the danger, some people still took to the streets, “We insist on life!”
More than 50 protesters were wide.
“Insing on life”: Theme for 2025
“Insing on Life” – Turkey “Yasamada Israr” – is the slogan of this year’s Pride Month. The LGBTQ+ community wants to emphasize that it still exists, and is still active, despite repression and despite efforts to intimidate.
It takes great courage, as was once again clear in the middle of June. In Run-up to Pride Week, Homepage and Social Media Channel of News magazine Kaos gl – The oldest magazine in Türkiye with LGBTQ+ focus – was blocked by court order. The magazine has been reporting discrimination and violence against this community since 1994, as well as campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights. Now there is a non-profit association of this name that offers services that are from a hotline where people can report hatred crimes for advice and information.
For Yildiz Tar, the editor-in-chief of Kaos GL, blocking their online portal is not just a sensorship, but part of a systematic mechanism to eradicate the great existence of the LGBTQ+ community.
Demonetisation of lgbtq+
Association ünikuir therefore reported to be targeted by hate campaigns. It advocates equal rights and participation of LGBTQ+ people in higher education. Its current report states that between 2023 and September 2024, 41 members of the Turkish Parliament openly opposed the rights of LGBTQ+ people. In particular, the Islamic Orthodox AKP government alliance and ultra nationalist MHP MPs used words like “distracted” and “pervert” to portray people as a global threat to LGBTQ+ people.
Ünikuir says that there has been a huge part in oral attacks. It adds that trans women’s murders, as well as LGBTQ+ other crimes against people and crimes, Istanbul, Izamir and Ankara, especially in large metros, did not make it on the parliamentary agenda.
Kaos GL complains of Yields Tar, there are no LGBTQ+ characters in films or TV series, he explains, which is why news portals like him are very important: “Instead, hostile rhetoric and targeted oral attacks and discrimination are deteriorating.”
Tar says that harassment has taken a dimension that cannot be explained alone by prejudice or ignorance.
Politics has contributed to a dangerous environment
Therefore, the observer is confident that the government’s decision to declare 2025 “year of the family” is no coincidence.
At the LAIS initiative ceremony, Turkish Islamic Orthodox Tayip Erdogan stressed that his government wanted to protect families and children at all costs. He designed the LGBTQ+ community as a great threat to the family, and claimed that digital platforms and articles present a great place for LGBTQ+ interests.
According to journalist Irfan Degirmenci, violence begins with the language coming from above. “We say,” we are distracted, distorted, “they say, and warns that LGBTQ+ people are inhuman on a daily basis on a daily basis, which is the state institute that oversees religious affairs, as well as by the Ministries of Family and Education by the Ministries and Provincial Governors of the family and education.
Advocate Nilda Balta confirms this. There are many disturbing developments in the country, she says, find as a decree of the Ministry of Family Ministry that people should stop using words like gender equality, LGBTQ+, and others, which claim that it damages the family image.
Other importing problems have been abolished
Semih özkarakas, which works for a non-governmental organization, is about exploding the current mood in Türkiye as “live hand grenade”. “LGBTQ+ as people, we feel safe as only one kurdish, an Alevi, a refugee, or a woman. She is safe – or rather, unsafe.”
He emphasizes that, because of all this, people do not even come to talk about other problems. They should discuss poverty among LGBTQ+ people, lack of housing, lack of access to healthcare and education, domestic violence, misuse, and forced prostitution. Instead, özkarakas says, all things are of arrests, the events that have been banned, and online portals have to be blocked.
Pelin ünker contributed to this report, which has been translated from German.
