a local turkish court made its final decision on May 29, 2008 that lambdaistanbul, an important lgbtt solidarity association that has been active in turkey as an organization since 1993, and had become a registered association in 2006, was a threat to the “morals”/”family values” of Turkish society. the decision has been made for lambdaistanbul to close its doors on the 6th hearing. the closing case was initially filed against lambdaistanbul by the governorship of istanbul which claimed that the organization was violating the law and public morality. (this is the same governorship responsible for gentrifying its own residents out of their neighborhoods, but i will write more on that later.) there has also been controversy around the association’s name, which is claimed unfit by some parties on the basis that it is not in turkish.
for an official and detailed explanation of the progression and result of the case, you can read the english language version of lambdaistanbul’s press release and call for solidarity here.
lambdaistanbul is the first and largest lgbtt solidarity association in istanbul. it works closely with kaos gl (in the city of ankara) and sappho’nun kizlari (organized around lesbian identity.) it is also linked to and supported by turkish-german glbtt groups in germany such as türk gay and gladt (gays&lesbians aus der turkei.) lambdaistanbul has been supporting the bi-monthly gay and lesbian magazine kaos gl, which has been published since September 1994. lambdaistanbul organizes and co-organizes local and national meetings, as well as fundraiser parties and other events for the lgbtt community and allies. they have a telephone support line and legal services geared towards glbtt persons who seek justice in a world of police brutality and state terror as well as social homophobia and transphobia. if you are looking for a background in lgbtt struggles and activism in turkey that is available in english, kaos gl has a superb online archive of reports and history files covering the period from 1970s to the present.
lambdaistanbul’s website reassures us that the office/headquarters/cultural center will not be closed, and all meetings and events will take place as planned(hopefully including upcoming annual pride week in june 2008). they are still waiting on the appeal which has been made to take the case to a higher court, which makes the decision of the local court ineffective for the time being. in the meantime, they have also been receiving some unexpected visits to the center from the police. human rights watch has already had their eyes on the case of lambdaistanbul for a while now. hrw’s january 2008 report on turkey mentions the case amongst the many other internationally recognized human rights violations that my beloved country continues to practice – including ethnic/cultural discrimination, bans and limits on freedom of expression and assembly, police brutality and torture, etc. you can read hrw’s recently published (may 21) report on “gender, sexuality, and human rights in a changing turkey” here. (click here for pdf version.)
lambdaistanbul has organized a press conference to be held on tuesday, june 3rd with the participation of important figures from both turkey and abroad. the participants include: Ufuk Uras (MP, independent), Sebahat Tuncel (MP, DTP)
Pınar Selek (amargi and women’s platform for the reform of the turkish penal code), Ville Forsman (amnesty international), Emma Sinclair-Webb (human rights watch) and Sedef Çakmak (lambdaistanbul.) the organization is also planning a protest march on saturday, june 7th, for which they called upon the national and international communities of activists.
please look out for more updates in the coming days and weeks…
closure case in the news:
bbc news coverage on friday, may 30:
Turkish gay group will fight ban
turkish daily news coverage on friday, may 30:
Court decides to shut down Istanbul’s gay rights association
bianet coverage on monday, april 21:
Judge postpones; experts defy gay association closure case
pinknews (uk) on friday, may 30:
Council of Europe expresses concern over gay rights in Turkey
human rights watch on monday, june 02:
Turkey: Court Shows Bias, Dissolves Lambda Istanbul
additional links:
lambdaistanbul’s listing on the queer resources directory
lambdaistanbul facebook group (in turkish)
