Turkey is abusing LGBT+ citizens and not letting journalists cover it

Police manhandled detainees in ways that grossly violated social distancing measures – among them was award-winning photographer Bulent Kilic, writes Borzou Daragahi

Istanbul’s erstwhile reputation for tolerance is no more (AFP/Getty)

For years, Istanbul was known as a relatively tolerant haven for members of the LGBT+ community in the Muslim world. A colourful annual pride parade was a celebration of the megapolis’s spirit of freedom, diversity and openness to the world. Not any more.

In recent years, following the rightward turn of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, police have busted up the annual pride march along Istanbul’s Istiklal Street. As an excuse they have cited either Ramadan, the coronavirus pandemic, or worries about upsetting the sensibilities of citizens.

This year, authorities in the Erdogan-appointed governor’s office and interior ministry barred the pride parade, citing dubious coronavirus measures, even as shopping malls are wide open and pro-government political rallies are allowed to proceed. On 26 June, police in riot gear violently stormed a group of pride month marchers making their way along the side streets of Istanbul’s Beyoglu district.

More than 40 people were arrested, with police manhandling detainees in ways that grossly violated social distancing measures. Among those brutalised and detained was award-winning Agence-France Presse photographer Bulent Kilic.

Black-clad police, acting on the authority of the country’s hardline, corruption-tainted interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, struck Kilic in the face and threw his camera to the ground, smashing it, before pinning him to the ground and kneeling on his neck, Derek Chauvin-style, restricting his ability to breathe.

“An attempt was made on my life,” wrote Kilic on Twitter after being released without charge. “It was an attempted suffocation.”

The police later released a statement saying that “unfortunately” a journalist was among those caught up in an attempt to suppress the protest.

Turkish and international media-monitoring groups are outraged, and international and local journalists held protests on Tuesday in both Ankara and Istanbul. “Authorities in Turkey must accept that reporters have a right to cover the news in the field, and take concrete action to prevent police officers from harassing them,” said Gulnoza Said, of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The pummelling of Kilic accomplished nothing. The brutalisation of the marchers and journalists was done in broad daylight, with literally scores of residents documenting the unprovoked police violence with their mobile phone cameras and quickly uploading the footage for the world to see.

If violently attacking members of an embattled minority peacefully marching for their rights, further soiling your nation’s image as a tolerant bastion, is your government’s aim, then you should have no problem allowing the media to document it.

But if you’re not proud of oppressing one of the most vulnerable groups of your citizenry, and want to hide your actions from the rest of the world, then maybe reconsider your decision, instead of brutalising journalists doing their jobs.

Yours,

Borzou Daragahi

International correspondent