‘Kurdistan exists, LGBTI+s exist’
The İstanbul Trans Pride Week Committee has said that the increasing discrimination, hate speech, and nationalism in Turkey, especially since 2015, are not independent of the political context and that they remain steadfast in their intersectional struggles.
Having organized the 9th Trans Pride March on June 18th last year, marking Trans Equality Day, and now coordinating the 10th Trans Pride Week, the committee emphasized that the existence of Kurds and LGBTI+s is denied in Turkey due to the same policies.
Drawing attention to the naming and impunity policies specific to Kurds and LGBTI+ issues, the committee's statement can be summarized as follows:
"We believe that the reactions to slogans about Kurdistan shouted at LGBTI+ events in the last few years are not independent of the political context. We are releasing this statement to both voice our opposition to this trend and emphasize that homonationalism will not succeed in Turkish LGBTI+ activism.
"Today, not only Kurds but also LGBTI+s are discussed within the framework of securitization. The authorities, judiciary members, state institutions, and pro-government media position Kurds as a threat against the nation and LGBTI+s against the family. The President, who was once an actor in the peace process, is now intervening even in the tea gatherings of LGBTI+s and attempting to imprison Kurds.”
Impunity policies
"The state's failure to frequently record, investigate, or punish violence against trans individuals and the resulting increase in trans homicides and unpunished hate crimes are significant. Cases of forced disappearances, torture, murder, deaths in custody, and extrajudicial executions against Kurds are not effectively investigated, and perpetrators are either rewarded with impunity or promotions. The bones of individuals killed by the state are delivered to their families in cardboard boxes years later. Thousands of Kurds do not even have a grave today.
"The bodies of deceased individuals, burial rights, and funeral procedures are used as tools to punish the Kurdish people and LGBTI+ individuals. When the state's imams refuse to perform funeral prayers for individuals deemed unacceptable, both groups seek ways to protect their mourning rights and bury their dead.”
Monopoly of naming
"When marginalized people express their demands for social change, dominant groups intentionally mislabel them to perpetuate existing inequalities. The insistence of groups holding the monopoly of naming on using terms such as 'ladies' for women, 'faggot' for homosexuals, 'turning' for trans individuals, and 'Eastern' or 'of Kurdish origin' for Kurds is also related to this purpose.
"Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, Christians, Alevis, women, LGBTI+s, people with disabilities, and animals are much more than categories and integral parts of society.
“We remind those who ignore LGBTI+ individuals that we are always here and will always be here. Once again, we shout: 'Kurdistan exists, LGBTI+s exist!'"