Turkish Police Clash with Pro-LGBTQ+ and Pro-Women’s Rights Demonstrators

Protesters have packed the streets of Istanbul since January, in disapproval of the government’s continued onslaught of LGBTQ+ and women’s rights (Wikimedia Commons).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s policies concerning women and the LGBTQ+ community over the past three months have induced widespread protests. 25 authorities detained 12 students on March 25 for publicly unfurling pride flags, and police arrested dozens more on March 26. 

The heightened protests come as Turkey leaves the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women, which, according to Human Rights Watch, enshrines the rights of women and those in the LGBTQ+ community. Kenneth Roth, director of the organization, remarked that the withdrawal represents a “profoundly backward step” for Turkey, while Erdogan’s Communications Chief defended the move by stating that the treaty “attempts to normalize homosexuality.” 

Protests have also targeted other retrogressive acts towards the LGBTQ+ community in Turkey. This past January, for instance, the government appointed a rector to the elite Bogazici University after the school hosted an art exhibition that displayed pro-LGBTQ+ posters, including one which placed pride flags on the Kaaba, a sacred site in Islam. The new rector proceeded to dismantle the school’s LGBTQ+ studies club. Moreover, Turkey’s Interior Minister directed Turks to denounce the works and the university on Twitter, labeling them “perverts.” Authorities arrested the four students who organized the exposition. 

Oner Ceylan, a volunteer for an LGBTQ+ organization in Turkey, told The Nation that conditions have worsened for the community since the re-election of Erdogan’s AKP party in 2015. Nevertheless, protestors have only grown more vigilant and show no sign of abating. Many have rallied around the phrase “pressure will not make us yield.”

Roth urges the EU to “not pretend” that Turkey’s situation “is business as usual” in light of continued action by the government that has marginalized vulnerable communities.