I’m Emrecan. I’m a 30-year-old gay man who’s been volunteering for Lambdaistanbul, an LGBT rights organisation in Turkey, since last March. Lambdaistanbul has been working as a meeting place, cultural centre and a helpline for Turkish sexual minorities since 1993. At the time Lambda was being formed in Istanbul, I was discovering my (homo)sexuality in my hometown, Ankara. Lambdaistanbul has been the longest running LGBT group in Turkey, and it made perfect sense to somehow get involved. So, when I moved to Istanbul, I joined this group of volunteers to work for our rights.
However, on May 29th, a local court decided to close down Lambdaistanbul. The association had been fighting this legal battle since July 2007, upon the complaint of the Governor’s Office of Istanbul, which pursued the case in a higher court, even though the Prosecutor rejected the initial request to close down Lambda. The final ruling came on the grounds that this association was formed for “immoral purposes” and that it is “against Turkish family values.”
Volunteers of Lambdaistanbul are now getting ready to take the case to the Court of Appeals, which will hopefully overrule this decision. If not, the case will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights. In any case, we are outraged and greatly saddened by this unlawful decision which infringes on our very basic human rights.
fully, we have been receiving an incredible amount of national and international support. Our press conference and demonstration were both highly successful, garnering a lot of attention to issues of LGBT people in Turkey. Also, in the past few weeks, there have been demonstrations in France, Germany and the Netherlands to protest the court’s decision, which arrived merely a week after the Human Rights Watch published a report on LGBT rights in Turkey, and a month before the Istanbul Pride Week that is organised by Lambdaistanbul volunteers.
There have been many attempts to celebrate Pride Week in Istanbul in the past decade but we have been regularly and successfully celebrating it since 2005. In Istanbul, the last week of June is full of concerts, panels, plays, parties and activities that culminate in the highly expected Pride parade in the city centre. Last year’s Pride Parade has been the biggest ever with 1500 people, which included artists, ambassadors and politicians. We hope to gather an even bigger crowd this year on June 29th, to get louder and fiercer in our struggle for rights and freedom as citizens of this country. Many friends and supporters are going to join our parade from Europe and from all over the world, including two Members of the European Parliament. You can find the full Pride program here on GayRomeo or on the Lambdaistanbul site in English and Turkish.
While the appeal is underway, Lambdaistanbul will continue to function as usual, providing help and information to LGBT persons and their families, documenting human rights violations against sexual minorities, and seeking visibility, acceptance and legal rights. We will also run a campaign, titled “Hands Off My Association,” to bring this matter to the attention of politicians.
It is our hope that Lambdaistanbul will be the last LGBT group to face closure in Turkey. If you support Lambda’s cause and LGBT rights in Turkey, please sign our petition (with text in Turkish, English, French and German), which will be sent to the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament and the Head of the Constitution Commission.
If you want to stay informed about the appeal and Lambdaistanbul’s activities, you can visit Lambdaistanbul.org, or join the “Lambdaistanbul” group on Facebook.
Lambda Istanbul is an LGBT Rights organization in Turkey. For more info, visit their their website: lambdaistanbul.org
*******************
HOME
|
|
