Key Points
- LGBTIQ+ community members and supporters take to the streets at Istanbul's Pride March
- Turkish police on Sunday broke up a banned Pride march in Istanbul, detaining more than 200 demonstrators
Turkish police on Sunday broke up a banned Pride march in Istanbul, detaining more than 200 demonstrators, organisers said.
The governor's office had forbidden the march around Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul, but protesters gathered nearby under heavy police presence earlier than scheduled.
Police detained protesters, loading them on to buses.
Organisers tweeted that more than 200 Pride participants and LGBTIQ+ activists had been detained and that police had refused detainees access to their lawyers.
Although more than a dozen of them were released later in the day, many were still in police custody at 2000 GMT.
A photographer Bulent Kilic, who was taken away handcuffed from the back, was released later on Sunday after presenting a statement to the police, his lawyer said.
Hundreds of protesters carrying rainbow flags had pressed ahead with the rally in defiance of police.
People shout slogans next to Turkish police officers during the LGBTIQ+ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTIQ+ Pride March, organisers said. Source: AAP / Emrah Gurel/AP
Kaos GL Association, which campaigns to promote the human rights of LGBTIQ+ people against discrimination, said on Twitter that police had detained 12 other people in the western city of Izmir and that one of them was later released.
Police prevented the press from filming the Istanbul arrests, according to AFP journalists.
'We are banned'
"All those detained solely for their participation in Pride must be released immediately and unconditionally," Milena Buyum of Amnesty International said.
Diren, a 22-year-old university student, condemned the hate crimes targeting LGBTIQ+ people.
"We are banned, prevented, discriminated and even killed at every second of our lives. Today, it's a very special day for us to defend our rights and to say that we do exist," Diren said.
"Police violence is aimed to stop us but it is not possible. You will be unable to stop the queers."
Erol Onderoglu of media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the arrest of the photographer Mr Kilic on Twitter.
"The police seem to have made it a habit" of detaining him, he wrote, recalling that journalists' organisations had protested what they said was Kilic's violent detention last year.
On Friday, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, had urged Turkish authorities to let the demonstration go ahead and to ensure the safety of the marchers.
Turkish photojournalist Bulent Kilic is detained during the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTQ Pride March, organisers said. Source: AAP / Emrah Gurel/AP
Although homosexuality has been legal throughout the period of the modern Turkish republic, LGBTIQ+ individuals say there is regular harassment and abuse.
Istanbul Pride had taken place every year since 2003.
The last march to go ahead without a ban was in 2014 and drew tens of thousands of participants in one of the biggest LGBTIQ+ events in the majority Muslim region.
After 2014, the march was banned each year, officially for security reasons.
In 2020, streaming giant Netflix cancelled the production of a series in Turkey featuring a gay character after failing to obtain government permission for filming.
The same year, French sports brand Decathlon faced boycott calls in Turkey for posting messages of support for LGBTIQ+ people.
