During his election campaign, President Erdogan increased hate speech against sexual and gender minorities. During an unauthorized pride march in Istanbul on Sunday June 25, three women tell franceinfo about their struggles and their fears.
Eda is 21 years old and has big hazel eyes that cast worried looks around. She is a lesbian and does not yet know if she will take part in the Pride parade in Istanbul on Sunday 25 June. What worries him isn’t so much the police in charge of banning the gathering as the reactions of strangers on the street at a time when homophobia has never been more encouraged at the highest level of the state.
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“I’m getting more and more worried,” says Eda. As an LGBT+ woman, I don’t feel safe anywhere. As soon as I set foot outside, I feel like my life is in danger. It’s like fighting a daily battle for my right to live, my right to exist. But that’s all I’m asking for: the right to exist. And we are denied that.”
LGBT+, a “poison” for Erdogan
Although homosexuality is not forbidden in Turkey, a country with a large Muslim majority, the situation of sexual minorities there is becoming increasingly precarious and the official discourse against them is increasingly violent. During his recent election campaign, President Erdogan called them “evil” and likened them to a “plague” and a “poison” for the Turkish family.
Ilayda, a volunteer at an association that defends LGBT+ rights, confirms that fear is growing, including when it comes to denouncing violence. “Everyone who comes to us feels those concerns,” she explains. They ask us: “What if the police officer who takes my complaint is homophobic? And if the judge is homophobic? And if the court-appointed attorney is homophobic. What if I contact an attorney and he refuses to defend me because of my sexual identity or orientation?’ Even among people who have not experienced violence, these concerns are becoming more common.”
Solidarity Artists
In the last elections, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formed an alliance with two small Islamist parties whose main demand is a total ban on LGBT+ associations. For Ezgi, a transgender woman, such a measure would only increase people’s isolation from the queer community: “Because I’m transgender, they don’t give me a job, they don’t rent me an apartment.”
“Without the solidarity of my community, I would be out on the streets. A real estate agent said to me again the other day: ‘I have apartments’, but not for you!’”
Ezgi, transgender woman
at franceinfo
Turkish artists who show their solidarity are also excluded. The city hall of Bursa, one of Turkey’s largest cities, recently canceled a concert by singer Melike Sahin. She dedicated an award to women and LGBT+ people.