LGBTQI+ collectives and organizations in Greece have called on the public to join a protest outside the Turkish Embassy in Athens, on Friday, September 25, in solidarity with Turkey’s LGBTQI+ community.
The rally is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. and comes after Turkish authorities launched a wave of raids and arrests on Sunday, targeting LGBTQI+ rights organizations, activists and journalists. According to rights groups, more than 100 people have been detained so far. Police carried out simultaneous raids in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Aydın and Mersin, while at least 62 people were remanded in custody.
According to The Guardian, Turkey’s Interior Ministry released a video that showed police searching filing cabinets, seizing rainbow flags and escorting people away in handcuffs, alongside raids on nightclubs and activists’ homes.
Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the operation, dubbed “My Family is Safe”, was intended to protect children, families and social order. The crackdown has also prompted protests in Turkey. Police used tear gas against demonstrators in İzmir, while at least 150 protesters were detained in Istanbul.
The European Commission, the United Nations, and human rights organizations have criticised the crackdown, warning that stigmatizing LGBTQI+ people and criminalizing advocacy undermine fundamental rights and conflict with standards expected of EU candidate countries.
“Very concerned by reports of mass arrests and detention of over 150 LGBTIQ+ individuals and human rights defenders and reports of their ill treatment in detention, and the potential impact this development could have on civic space,” said UN Human Rights.
Call to Action
In a statement announcing Friday’s protest, LGBTQI+ groups in Greece said they stood in solidarity with Turkey’s LGBTQI+ community, which is facing an “unprecedented wave of systemic persecution”.
The groups state repression, bans on LGBTQI+ Pride events and what they described as hate speech from the Turkish government. They also accused the government of “instrumentalization of LGBTQI+ lives”, arguing that LGBTQI+ issues were being used as a political diversion.
“Authoritarianism, nationalism, and religious fanaticism have no homeland, nor do they stop at borders,” the statement said.
The groups called on the LGBTQI+ community and the general public in Greece to remain vigilant and support the demonstration, arguing that developments in Turkey have implications beyond its borders. “The oppression faced by our peers in Turkey serves as a warning of what is to come everywhere if we allow obscurantism and intolerance to dictate political developments,” the statement said.
The protest’s demands include an immediate end to the persecution, arrests and violence targeting LGBTQI+ people in Turkey; protection of fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly; and the release of those arrested. The organizers also called for opposition to nationalism, religious fundamentalism and populism, which they said threaten freedoms in Greece and elsewhere.
“Solidarity is our weapon. We leave no one to face the darkness alone,” the statement concluded.
The demonstration is being organized by LGBTQI+ collectives, non-governmental organizations and grassroots communities in Greece. It is scheduled to take place outside the Turkish Embassy in Athens at 6:30 p.m. on September 25.
