İstanbul Trans Pride March marked with decentralized protests amid heavy police presence
İstanbul’s LGBTI+ community on Sunday celebrated its 10th Trans Pride March under the theme "State as Perpetrator," despite various bans.
The İstanbul Governor's Office closed down Taksim and Şişhane metro stations ahead of the march. Significant police forces and water cannons were deployed in Şişli, Beyoğlu, and Kadıköy, monitoring the streets throughout the day.
This year, instead of a large-scale march, members of the LGBTI+ community opted for decentralized actions. They hung trans flags in pink, blue, and white colors on the Okmeydanı Bridge and at the Mecidiyeköy metro station, marking their presence across the city.
During the day, two trans activists were detained. One of them was taken by plainclothes police officers from a cafe in Kadıköy. The Trans Pride March Committee reported the detentions: "Today, on the Trans Pride March Day, we received information that two of our friends were detained on the street. One was taken from a cafe and was put into an unmarked white vehicle instead of a police car. We are keeping track of our friends' situation."
Support from DEM deputies
MPs from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, Özgül Saki and Kezban Konukçu, showed solidarity by hanging a large trans flag on the Atatürk Bridge in Golden Horn. Saki spoke to bianet, saying, "We just waved a flag for the Trans Pride March. This was a response especially against the AKP’s family-centric policies and the trend of demonizing all women and LGBTI+ people, including trans individuals. It's a necessity for our united struggle. Now, we hope to be able to carry out the Trans Pride March on the streets in other forms."
Konukçu added, "We need to reveal the will of all oppressed social groups to stand together against these fascist policies. Only through the joint struggle of women, LGBTI+ people, the Kurdish community, and all oppressed groups can we rid ourselves of this fascist government. Long live our solidarity!"
"State as Perpetrator!"
The 10th İstanbul Trans Pride Week Committee's statement for this year reads:
"The 10th Istanbul Trans Pride March is happening everywhere, we are everywhere! Under the theme 'State as Perpetrator,' we are asserting our visibility and existence as trans individuals, refusing to abandon the city or the streets! We are the trans people you have driven into hopelessness, economic hardship, and stripped of our right to life. We are here, we are everywhere.
Last year, we held the 9th Istanbul Trans Pride March in Harbiye on June 18. This year, despite all bans, obstacles, and repression, we are the trans people you have displaced from our homes and streets. We are here, we are everywhere!
Why 'State as Perpetrator'?
We have not forgotten Süleyman the Hose, the attacks in Esat and Eryaman, the violence in Ülker Street, the abusive Hanifi Zengin, and the torture by law enforcement. We have not forgotten the girls evicted from Bayram Street. We have not forgotten the attack in Izmir's Bornova Street just three months ago!
For these reasons, the state is the perpetrator behind the deprivation of life rights of all trans people. The state is the perpetrator behind the hate crime murder of Hande Kader in 2016, due to the government's criminalization of sex work.
The state is responsible for the discriminatory policies that targeted and led to the suicides of trans individuals like Eylül Cansın, Okyanus Efe, Figen, and many others.
The state is the perpetrator behind the deaths of Ecem Seçkin, Damla, Biricik Sultan, Zirve, Dilan, and Palmiye Deniz!
We are the trans individuals repeatedly targeted by discriminatory policies, marginalized, isolated, and whose solidarity is obstructed, homes and jobs taken, and pushed out of society by so-called family policies. We are here! We are everywhere!
We said we would take over the entire city.
We do not give up on our lives
Look at how we have reclaimed the streets you tried to confine us from! We are united. We recognize that all oppressions are connected and that those who seek to dominate us are the source of violence. We are here to show that our solidarity cannot be broken by declaring 'State as Perpetrator!'
We stand together against state violence towards queer people in Turkey and Kurdistan! We are here with our families against the hatred rising from the so-called 'Great Family Meeting' in Istanbul's Saraçhane!
We are here for the Palestinian people whose right to self-determination has been taken away!
We are here to defend our will, to reject trustees, to fight against lawlessness! For sex workers, political prisoners, the Saturday Mothers/People, the massacre in İliç, the detained activists on May 1, the street animals you try to kill, those fighting the ongoing fires in Mardin and Amed, and many more, we are here for all queers and trans children!
We are here for what you have stolen from us and for our lives. Eleven years ago, today, we stood together at the 4th Trans Pride March during Gezi. We knew then, as we know now, that the state is the perpetrator.
We will not give up on our lives, our existence, our identities!"
This statement underscores the continued struggle of trans individuals in Turkey, emphasizing solidarity and resistance against systemic oppression and state violence.
(TY/VK)