Belgrade activists rally outside the Turkish embassy a month into Turkey’s crackdown on queer people

Activists gathered outside the Embassy of Turkey in Belgrade on Sunday 11 October in solidarity with Turkey’s LGBTIQ+ community, marking one month since the start of large-scale police operations, arrests and prosecutions targeting human rights activists and organisations there, the Serbian portal Pravo u centar reports.

Those present called for an end to the persecution, the release of detained activists, the dropping of court cases and an end to the censorship of media and organisations reporting on the situation of LGBTIQ+ people in Turkey. A photo from the rally, shared by the Belgrade queer choir Kvir zbor Beograda, shows a banner in Turkish reading “Burdayım aşkım!” (“I’m here, my love!”).

According to Amnesty International, Turkish authorities have opened investigations into more than 160 people since 12 September. Police have searched the offices of LGBTIQ+ rights groups and activists’ homes, and access to many websites and social media accounts has been blocked or restricted. On 22 September Amnesty said at least 116 people had been detained, 83 of them held in custody.

The organisers said the aim of the measures is to remove the LGBTIQ+ community from public space, cut the ties between its members and stop them from organising. Solidarity rallies have so far taken place in more than 60 cities in 30 countries, they said.

“Our strength lies in international solidarity and the shared struggle of all the oppressed, because nobody is free until we are all free,” the statement issued for the rally said.

Human Rights Watch has warned that the Turkish authorities’ actions pose a serious threat to fundamental rights and the rule of law. It is the second such rally in Belgrade: fifteen local organisations protested outside the embassy on 18 September.

Source: pravoucentar.rs. English adaptation: gay-serbia.com.