Paris-Geneva,
July 6, 2023 – On June 25, the Pride Marches in Istanbul and Izmir
were met with violent repression, arbitrary detentions and torture of
protesters and lawyers by police forces, following a month of bans
and attacks on LGBTQI+ related events across Turkey. The Observatory
(FIDH-OMCT) denounces this crackdown on peaceful protesters and calls
on the authorities to guarantee and respect the rights of LGBTQI+
people, defenders and organisations, as well as the rights to freedom
of assembly and expression in the country.
June
25, 2023 marked the culmination of this year’s Pride Month
repression in Turkey. On that day, police attacked Pride Marches in
Istanbul and Izmir, which were held despite the bans imposed by the
governor’s offices of the two cities on alleged grounds of
“threatening
the family institution” and “protection of public morality and
public order”.
In the previous years, domestic courts had found
such bans to violate the right to freedom of assembly; however, the
decisions came long after the marches were held, and did not prevent
the government from continuously violating LGBTQI+ people’s right
to freedom of assembly through the imposition of new bans every year.
In
Istanbul, 113 people were detained
during the 31st
Pride March, including four lawyers present to monitor and intervene
in rights violations during the march. In Izmir, 53 people were
detained, including four
lawyers.
One of the lawyers, Gamze Şimşek, is a board member of the Izmir
Bar Association. All the detentions were carried out violently and
the police reportedly perpetrated acts of torture
and ill-treatment
against several protestors and lawyers.
At
the time of publication of this Statement, all the people detained
during the Pride Marches, except
for five non-Turkish citizens
detained in Istanbul, had been released. One person from Iran, a
refugee with international protection status, was unlawfully
transferred to the Urfa Removal Center despite being registered in
Istanbul. According to the Istanbul branches of the Human Rights
Association and the Association of Lawyers for Freedom, the Urfa
Removal Center denied
lawyers’ requests to meet with the detained refugee and restricted
their communication with their family, in violation of procedural
safeguards. Lawyers were only able to meet with their client on July
4. Shortly after, in a violation of the principle of non-refoulement,
a deportation order was issued against the refugee from Iran, who
could face death penalty because of their sexual orientation if
deported to their country of origin. Lawyers have objected to the
deportation order. Another detained person from Australia suffered a
serious leg injury and was not provided with medical care for four
days. They were first transferred to the Tuzla Removal Center in
Istanbul and later to the Erzurum Aşkale 2nd
Removal Center. A Russian citizen, a Libyan citizen and a South
African/Portuguese citizen are also kept at removal centers. Two of
them could face the risk of deportation
despite threat to their safety if returned to Russia or Libya.
Lawyers are unable to access information about their status as the
Removal Centers deny any meetings allegedly due to the Eid break,
even though the break is over.
These
attacks are taking place against a backdrop of widespread repression
on the LGBTQI+ community and organisations and bans on all LGBTQI+
related events throughout the country in the past month. Picnics,
Pride Marches and panels at universities and other public places, a
movie screening and a “tea & talk” event at a café were
banned in several cities and districts including in Istanbul, Ankara,
Izmir, Kocaeli, Eskişehir, Aydın, and Muğla. According to the
Human
Rights Foundation of Turkey,
at least nine protests and events have been violently dispersed
throughout Pride Month, and a total of 205 people have been detained
(including those in Istanbul and Izmir Pride Marches). These bans and
attacks follow constant targeting of the LGBTQI+ community by
President Erdoğan, ministers and other high-level government
officials as well as right-wing politicians during the May 2023
election period. President Erdoğan targeted LGBTQI+ people in his
victory
speech
after the second round of the presidential elections.
The
restrictions on LGBTQI+ events and attacks against human rights
defenders in Turkey are not new. The Istanbul Pride March has been
banned
since 2015
on discriminatory and illegal grounds, and each year, peaceful
protesters who gather to defend LGBTQI+ rights are attacked
by the authorities.
In 2022, a record of 373 people were detained
during the Istanbul Pride March. The same year, Turkey ranked 48th
out of 49 European countries in terms of achieving equality and human
rights for LGBTQI+ people, according to ILGA-Europe’s 2023
Rainbow Europe country ranking.
The
Observatory strongly condemns the relentless attacks against peaceful
protesters, lawyers and LGBTQI+ rights defenders, and recalls that
the authorities in Turkey are bound by their national Constitution
and international human rights law to uphold the right to freedom of
peaceful assembly in the country, and urges them to respect the
principle of non refoulement.
The
Observatory urges the authorities in Turkey to put an immediate end
to the ongoing criminalisation and harassment of LGBTQI+ people and
LGBTQI+ rights defenders in the country, and ensure their safety and
well-being.
The
Observatory further calls on the authorities in Turkey to include
sexual orientation and sexual identity as bases of discrimination in
the legislation of Turkey and ensure that LGBTQI+ people are equally
protected under the law from violence and discrimination.
|