LGBTI+ Rights are Human Rights!
The police attacked people who gathered together in Taksim, İstanbul for the 19th İstanbul LGBTI+ Pride parade following a ban issued by the İstanbul Governor’s Office and Beyoğlu District Governor’s Office on June 26, the very day designated as the UN “International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.” The police used rubber bullets, and resorting to violence battered and arrested more than 40 persons including LGBTI+ Pride Week volunteers and journalist Bülent Kılıç. One individual was wounded in the face but was arrested nonetheless. The police even threatened and asked for the arrest of people who raised objections from their apartments while forcibly closing down places on Mis Street.
Although the right to freedom of assembly and protest, guaranteed by both national legislation and international conventions, is one of the fundamental rights in a democratic society it has been arbitrarily banned for all dissident groups that voice their objections. The law enforcement maintains its practices that amount to torture and ill-treatment against persons and groups exercising this right exceeding the limits of its duty and powers. Yet all these acts of torture and ill-treatment end up in impunity in spite of all appeals and objections while torture and ill-treatment are rendered the rule.
According to data collected by İHD’s Documentation Center, at least 2,980 persons were subjected to torture and ill-treatment by the law enforcement in social protests in 2020. HRFT’s Documentation Center, on the other hand, reported that at least 2,014 persons were subjected to torture and ill-treatment while 65 were wounded as a result of interventions by the law enforcement to peaceful protests and events held within the scope of the right to freedom of assembly and protest.
The İstanbul Pride parade had been originally scheduled to take place in 1993 on İstanbul’s İstiklal Street but it had beeb banned and numerous people had been arrested. The Pride Parade was held in 2003 on İstiklal Street with an ever-growing number of participants and became an event with tens of thousands of participants in 2013 and 2014. This vested right, however, was violated in 2015 by İstanbul Governor’s Office on some unlawful grounds. Since then the authorities have been keen on maintaining this ban attempting to forcibly eliminate this legal and legitimate right. Nonetheless the LGBTI+ continue to seek their rights on the streets against all bans.
The authorities announced one night that the İstanbul Convention, signed into effect to protect women and LGBTI+ from violence and discrimination, was annulled exposing people to violence. The important fact however is that withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention is null and void for women and the LGBTI+. We, hereby, declare that we will keep on working and being together against violence, discrimination, bans, disregard, and hate.
We stand against torture and the violation of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association in İstanbul Pride Parade and the peaceful protests of the LGBTI+. Peaceful assembly and protest is a right, it cannot be banned. We demand that the authorities initiate effective investigations into all officers that violated the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment and invite the state to act in accordance with the provisions of international conventions and covenants that it had signed.
We would like to remind all that LGBTI+ rights are human rights and celebrate the LGBTI+ Pride Week.
İHD Central Women’s Committee