HRW denounces Turkey's bans on Pride celebrations as flagrant human rights violation

Photo: Wouter Massink / bianet

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In a written statement published today (June 27), Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced the banning of the Pride celebrations and the subsequent mass detentions that ensued in Turkey, urging authorities to stop prosecuting Pride participants and reaffirm their fundamental right to peaceful protest.

On June 25, police forcefully intervened and detained 113 individuals as they attempted to hold the İstanbul Pride Parade. This marked the ninth consecutive year that the march was prohibited. Not much later that same day, a banned Pride march in the coastal city of İzmir resulted in at least 52 people being taken into custody.

HRW Europe and Central Asia director Hugh Williamson states that these bans have been a flagrant violation of the right to peaceful assembly and shows "Turkish government's vitriolic campaign against LGBT people."

The watchdog highlights that these prohibitions follow a surge of anti-LGBT discourse by officials during and after the May 2023 elections, with continuous discriminatory statements against LGBT individuals. Such as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent remark that LGBT people are a "calamity that threatens the survival of our society."

Additionally, these bans on Pride celebrations are often later considered unlawful in courts. However, these judicial decisions come too late to enable LGBT individuals to exercise their right to assembly. 

Williamson reminded Turkey that the government has been directed by both the European Court of Human Rights and its own domestic courts to ensure this right, adding that "Bans on Pride marches and events and police intervention are nothing more than unlawful intimidation tactics at dissuading people from exercising their right to peaceful assembly."

(AS/WM)