Turkish police detain at least 50 LGBTI+ activists in Ankara

Jul 06 2022 

Turkish police intervened in a pride march in the capital Ankara and detained at least 50 LGBTI+ activists on Tuesday.

Police released all of the detained after they gave depositions, Turkish LGBT rights organisation Kaos GL said.

Radical Islamists sought to intervene violently in the pride march, the Diken news website reported. Several of the marchers were injured in attacks carried out by men, it said.

Being LGBT has never been criminalised during the modern Turkish republic, but LGBT-focused events have been banned since 2015 after Istanbul Pride attracted some 100,000 people the previous year. In July last year, Turkey withdrew from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, after pro-government conservative and Islamist groups argued that it promoted homosexuality and undermined family values.

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter Emel Vural and Kaos GL's Aslı Alpar were injured during the police intervention, Turkish Press and Printing Workers' Union DİSK Basın-İş said.

ILGA Europe rated Turkey 48th of 49 countries in a 2022 review of the human rights situation for LGBTI+ people. Only Azerbaijan ranked lower, according to the report published in May and covering 2021.

Turkey’s media watchdog warns against

broadcasting LGBT ballad

Jul 03 2022 

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has contacted all music televisions in Turkey to tell them they should not run the latest video released by Turkish singer Mabel Matiz, who is popular among the country’ LGBT community, RTÜK member İlhan Taşçı said in a tweet.

“They do not outright ban the video so they could walk back if necessary,” said Taşçı, who represents the main opposition party in the regulatory body.

The song about starcrossed lovers does not mention a specific gender but the video has Matiz and another man in intimate poses.

Conservative groups had targeted the artist for what they called normalising homosexuality, launching a campaing under the hashtag “#MabelMatizHaddiniBil”, which translates to “Know your place”.

“After protests from our digital famil, RTÜK banned Mabel Matiz’s homosexual video. They called music channels and informed them that those who broadcast the video would face heavy fines,” conservative writer Said Ercan said in a tweet.

During the month of June, which is celebrated as Pride Month in Turkey as well, more than 10 LGBT events have been banned by authorities and more than 500 activists have been detained for attending a pride march in Istanbul, LGBT rights advocates KaosGL said in a statement denouncing the ban.

“Mabel’s song Karakol is a carnation flower blooming in the midst of this spiral of hate and violence,” KaosGL said.