REPUBLIC OF TURKEY：
PRIDE MARCH NO LONGER AT RISK

A student-organised Pride march, is due to take place on 12 May, on the Ankara based Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) campus, but is at risk of being blocked by the Ankara Governorate and university authorities, in violation of the right to freedom of assembly. The march must be allowed to go ahead and the ongoing blanket ban on all LGBTI events in Ankara lifted.

An annual student-organised Pride march, is due to take place on 12 May, on the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) campus in Ankara, but is at risk of being blocked by the Ankara Governorate and university authorities. According to the LGBTI student group and march organisers, ODTÜ LGBTI Dayanışması, in early April, the university authorities informed the Ankara Governorate of the student’s annual spring festival, which this year takes place from 9 – 11 May, and the Pride march, on 12 May. The Governorate responded that both the festival and march could not go ahead because of risk of ‘provocation’.

The annual spring festival has been organized by student groups at ODTÜ for the last 31 years and is a celebration of different cultures. For the last seven years, the Pride march has been taking place on the day after the festival, with the support of a wide range of student groups. This year, ODTÜ LGBTI are also planning a week of events, including a ‘queer salsa dance’ and a collective rainbow painting event, starting on 7 May.

ODTÜ LGBTI told Amnesty International that the University’s Rector told them on 26 April that he would make representations to the Governorate for the festival to go ahead but would not negotiate in favour of the Pride march. On the same day, an article in a pro-government newspaper referred to the march and its organisers as “deviants [who] are planning on displaying their lack of morals under the slogan ‘we are everywhere, we are the country’ without regard to religious sensitivities a short time before the start of Ramadan”.

An indefinite blanket ban by Ankara Governorate on all LGBTI events in Ankara has been in effect since November 2017. The right to peaceful assembly is guaranteed under domestic and international law. To be lawful, any restrictions on this right must be necessary and proportionate, meaning that there must be a pressing social need, in order to protect a legitimate concern. The ongoing indefinite blanket ban on all LGBTI events in Ankara is therefore unlawful, which includes any blocking of the ODTÜ students’ march for Pride.

The student-organized Pride march gathering hundreds of university students went ahead peacefully on 11 May on the Ankara-based Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), despite attempts from the university and Ankara authorities to prevent it from taking place.

The annual student-organized Pride march took place on 11 May, on the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) campus in Ankara, the capital. Hundreds of demonstrators peacefully marched on the university campus, in defiance of the ban on all LGBTI events imposed by the governor of Ankara.

ODTÜ LGBTI Solidarity told Amnesty International they were very grateful for the organization’s support and action, and they shared the following message: “We could not stay silent and resign ourselves to the ban. We had to oppose it, we had to march. The ban on our pride march was illegal and it was against our existence. The reason we could resist the ban and move forward was the international support and solidarity by Amnesty International activists around the world. We could not have gone further without your support.”

Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.

This is the first update of UA 83/18. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur44/8339/2018/en/

Further information on UA: 83/18 Index: EUR 44/8401/2018 Issue Date: 11 May 2018