Turkey police detain dozens at LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul
Turkish police on Sunday detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a Gay Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities and the lockdown of the city’s main gathering point, organisers said.
Police stepped up security around Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square, erecting iron barriers, while local officials banned demonstrations in key rallying areas, including the Asian-side district of Kadikoy. The governor’s office also restricted subway transport in several central locations.
The Turkish Journalists‘ Union said one of those detained was Muberra Unsal, who holds a valid press card.
Read moreWorld Cup ‘Pride Match’: FIFA refuses to ban rainbow flags despite Iran, Egypt objections
“Journalists covering the Istanbul Pride March faced unlawful interference again this year. Despite repeatedly identifying herself as a journalist, Unsal was also taken into custody,” the union said on X.
LGBTQ+ protesters, who gathered in several neighbourhoods across the city, vowed to continue their demonstrations.
“My love, today isn’t over yet. In fact, we’re just getting started. We’re not giving up. We’ll keep taking to the streets from every corner we’re in,” the protesters chanted.
The Istanbul Bar Association unfurled a large banner from its building on Istiklal Avenue reading: “LGBT is human rights“.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but the LGBT community is frequently targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has blamed it for a declining birth rate.
Since 2015, the annual Pride march has been almost systematically banned and suppressed.
Separately, Turkish authorities on Saturday ordered an Istanbul gay bar to close over unspecified violations following protests by Islamist groups against its owner.
The closure came after Islamist groups launched a campaign on social media against a planned cruise ship tour aimed at LGBTQ+ travellers. They claimed the Turkish leg of the programme was being organised by Mustafa Dogan Yilmaz, the bar’s owner.
The ship had been scheduled to dock in Istanbul on July 8.
Pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported that the cruise operator had decided to cancel its Istanbul stop.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Still waiting to hear what Gay Pride actually plans to do about it.
Basically the Turkish Journalists’ Union said one of those detained was Muberra Unsal, who holds a valid press card. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
Still waiting to hear what Muberra Unsal actually plans to do about it.
When you look at turkish police on Sunday detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities, the implications are hard to ignore.
Considering read moreWorld Cup ‘Pride Match’: FIFA refuses to ban rainbow flags despite Iran, Egypt, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
Considering “Journalists covering the Istanbul Pride March faced unlawful interference again this year, it raises some real questions about what happens next.
The fact that read moreWorld Cup ‘Pride Match’: FIFA refuses to ban rainbow flags despite Iran, Egypt really puts things into perspective.
If turkish police on Sunday detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
So the bottom line is turkish police on Sunday detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities. Wonder how this will land.
On one hand lGBTQ+ protesters, who gathered in several neighbourhoods across the city, vowed to continue their demonstrations. But at the same time turkish police on Sunday detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities.
Reading that turkish police on Sunday detained at least 50 people, including a journalist, during a LGBTQ+ Pride event in Istanbul that went ahead despite a ban by local authorities — hard to argue with the logic there.
Taksim Square has been pushing this agenda for a while now.