ELİF AKGÜL

Istanbul - The AKP government has carried out an intensifying hate campaign since 2015. The process that started with the banning of Pride Marches continues by banning even film screenings, causes the increasing attacks on transgender people in Istanbul and Izmir, state violence against the protests of university students, censorship in the media, and withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.

The Human Rights Association established the LGBTI+ Rights Commission to combat hate speech and hate crimes against LGBTI+. We spoke to Eren Keskin, Co-chair of the IHD, about the commission.

“Organizations are shaped by a male-dominant perspective”

“There are women and men working for the Human Rights Association. Unfortunately, the organizations having both women and men members are shaped by a male-dominant perspective,” Eren Keskin said, “Even though IHD is an organization having an old history, we have recently established an LGBTI+ commission and establishing it very late is actually very painful.”

Recalling that they, as IHD particularly their branch in Istanbul, are always in solidarity with LGBTI+, Eren Keskin said:

“We have always stood by trans women. We have provided legal support to them. But we always felt the absence of a commission for them. Finally, we came together with several friends and decided to establish an LGBTI+ Rights Commission.”

“We cannot change the state without changing ourselves”

Underlining that establishing the commission is not sufficient; Eren Keskin continued to talk as follows:

“Because we and IHD members have some problems when homophobia and transphobia are mentioned. We know and observe this. Actually, this commission was established to educate ourselves because the state does not change until we change. We should change ourselves. I mean all the organizations and the opposition. We should first change ourselves to overcome these male-dominant, militaristic, feudal, homophobic, and transphobic policies.”

Emphasizing that they, as the commission, will support the LGBTI individuals, who face rights violations and provide legal support to them, Eren Keskin told us that they will organize awareness-raising courses for the members of the IHD.

“The government openly attacks them”

“We struggle against not only gender inequality, homophobia or transphobia, but also racism, militarism, fascism,” Eren Keskin said, “For this reason; we will wage a political struggle to question the hate language against women and LGBTI+ individuals.”

Recalling that the attacks against LGBTI+ individuals have been intensified since the establishment of the alliance between the AKP and MHP, Eren Keskin said, “These attacks were openly carried out by the rulers of the state themselves. They were openly carried out by the Presidency of Religious Affairs and it continues to carry out attacks against LGBTI+ individuals. Someone should raise their voice against this dangerous progress. LGBTI- individuals have, of course, their own organizations, but the LGBTI+ Rights Commission of the IHD will be always in solidarity with them.”