Kaos GL supervisory board members Selin Berghan, Burçin and Metin, arrested in the operations against the LGBTI+ community known as “Ailem Güvende” (“My Family Is Safe”), have been released, along with two members of the Pozitif-İz Association.
The court ruled that Kaos GL board members Nedime Erdoğan, Umut Derin, Janset Kalan and Baran, as well as journalist Tuğba Tekerek, who was arrested in the same operations, will remain in custody.
The first hearing in the Kaos GL case will be held on December 24 at 11:00 a.m. at the Ankara 27th Criminal Court of First Instance.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, within the scope of the “My Family is Safe” operations, has demanded that the Association for Social Policies, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies (SPoD) be shut down, and that its four founders, two of whom are in detention, be punished on charges of violating the Law on Associations.
The indictment cites the association’s creation of solidarity spaces against marginalization and its announcement of these on social media as a criminal element, using the phrase “domination of the majority by a minority in violation of the Constitution and the law.” The association’s 15 years of work, activity reports and events were presented as grounds for the closure request.
SPoD: “Yes, we did all of this. If it were to happen again, we would do it again!”
Joint statement from LGBTI+ associations:
“The unlawful request to dissolve SPoD must be withdrawn immediately. Our friends who have been unjustly and unlawfully imprisoned must be released immediately, and all charges against the four human rights defenders on trial must be dropped. Judicial harassment of LGBTI+ associations and human rights defenders must end.”
The hearing in the SPoD case will be held on Wednesday, November 18, at 1:30 p.m. at the Istanbul Çağlayan Courthouse, 27th Criminal Court of First Instance.
Photo by Ali Dinç / csgorselarsiv.org
