Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not exactly known for his liberal understanding of politics – and now he has made an embarrassing move because of it.
Politicians from around the world are currently speaking at the UN General Assembly, which ends on September 26. Here the biggest issues facing humanity are discussed: the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine or world hunger. Heads of government from around the world speak here at the General Assembly, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, he was not concerned with the multiplicity of crises in the world, but rather with the colors that adorned the UN building in New York in many places.
Because the color palette reminded the autocratic president of the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ movement – and Erdogan didn’t like it at all: “One thing that really worries me the most is this: when you enter the hall of the UN General Assembly, you see “These LGBT colors on the stairs and elsewhere. How many LGBT people are there in the world now? No matter how many rights they have on these stairs, those who are against LGBT also have rights.” He told Turkish newspaper “Habertürk”.
That’s really behind the bright colors
You can think what you want about Erdogan’s stance on LGBTQ people – but the fact is that he apparently misread the color scheme at the UN. Because they actually represent the so-called Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs for short. They can be seen as a global to-do list, made up of a total of 17 objectives that are crucial for the future of humanity: combating hunger and poverty, for example, containing the climate crisis, but also ensuring gender equality. Each color represents one of these SDGs.
An embarrassing faux paux for President Erdogan – because he should have known better. The SDGs came into force in 2016. And although UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is a supporter of the rights of LGBTQ people, the colors do not represent the community. A spokesman for Guterres declined to comment on Erdogan’s statement. Although homosexuality is not prohibited in Turkey, Erdogan was already very aggressive towards the community before the April elections: “We will take active measures against perverse tendencies such as LGBT”. According to him, these trends threaten traditional family structures.
Red browsing account, 20 minutes 09/24/2023, 10:11 pm | Act: September 24, 2023, 10:11 pm