Click to read the report.
This report, prepared by SPoD Law and Access to Justice Coordinator Attorney Umut Rojda Yıldırım, is a brief summary of the rights violations experienced during the Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Marches from 2015 to 2022. For 7 years, the story of every LGBTI+ person who could not participate in the Pride Marches, who was subjected to police attacks, who was tried with unjust lawsuits is actually between the lines of this report. While preparing the report, particularly the archive of KaosGL news website, the annual human rights monitoring reports of KaosGL Association and the Special Bulletin prepared by the Association for Monitoring Equal Rights were utilized. It should be noted that this report can only be a part of the state-sponsored and originated vortex of hate that has been rising against LGBTI+ persons since 2015.
The biggest deficiency felt during the writing of the report is that no systematic monitoring and advocacy activities have been carried out outside of LGBTI+ organizations against the violations of rights that have been happening in front of our eyes for years. This process, which started with the prevention of LGBTI+ Pride Marches, should be read together with the banning of Saturday Mothers/People, the detentions of Peace Mothers every week, police attacks on Gezi Resistance commemorations, and the attacks on the October 10 Massacre commemorations every year. Our wish is that LGBTI+ Pride Marches will again fill the streets and avenues freely with hundreds of thousands of people. We hope that this report can guide human rights defenders and stakeholders in terms of LGBTI+ advocacy activities.
Click to read the report.
