Submission to The Social Lens: A Social Work Blog by Kaan Göncü, PhD student
Image courtesy of yolculukhaber.net
Various smear campaigns and hate speech against the LGBTQI+ population have exponentially increased in Turkey in recent years. Most recently, clashes that resulted from the protests against the newly appointed rector to Boğaziçi University, one of the top universities in Turkey, put the LGBTQI+ population into an even more precarious situation, given the salient use of queer antagonism by the government to justify attacks against the protesters.
The #AşağıBakmayacağız, or #WeWillNotLookDown hashtag campaign started after a police officer shouted “You insolent, look down” and tried to detain some of the students while they were doing nothing but just walking to the university. The social media campaign soon became one of the strongest demonstrations against government oppression.
What happened?
On January 1, 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Professor Melih Bulu as the new rector of Boğaziçi University through an emergency decree numbered 676. Rector is the highest position in Turkish universities, similar to President in Canadian universities. In Turkey, the position of Rector is elected. However, the government ignored the established rules and values of the university, sparking protests from students and academics.
As the protests became widespread, the government’s intervention also became harsher. And in particular, the LGBTQI+ population was targeted by government officials. Tensions escalated rapidly when protesters displayed a poster in an art exhibition on campus depicting the Kaaba in Mecca with rainbow flags on it. Following this, the police increased home raids and detained some protestors.
One of the first statements about the poster was made by the interior minister, who named LGBTQI+ protestors as “perverts” on Twitter by saying “Four LGBT perverts were detained.” Later, in his online address to youth members of the ruling party, President Erdoğan said “We’ll carry our youth to the future, not as LGBT youth, but like the youth from this country’s glorious past.” Soon after, the government announced that “It was decided to abolish the candidate status of the LGBT studies club, as of February 2.” However, this decision also led to protests since this exhibition was not organized by the LGBTQI+ club but by the university’s Fine Arts Club.
Why are the discrimination and accusations against Turkey’s LGBTQI+ population alarming for human rights?
Inevitably, discourses that openly target people because of their sexual orientation lead to serious repercussions in the lives of LGBTQI+ people. Not long ago, Kaos GL, one of the leading LGBTQI+ organizations based in the capital, reported 150 hate crime cases from across 27 cities against LGBTQI+ people in Turkey. The Boğaziçi University example indeed shows us that the progress on LGBTQI+ rights is fragile. Especially, in turbulent times, LGBTQI+ people can find themselves in even more vulnerable and marginalized situations. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have highlighted that this may not be the case only in Turkey but in other countries too.
Among these, in Poland nearly 100 regions, towns and cities passed so-called anti-gay resolutions on the grounds that they are protecting family values and fighting against ‘global LGBT ideology,’ a prevalent discourse also in Turkey. Or a recent law that ended legal gender recognition for trans people was passed by Hungary’s parliament foregrounding “biological sex” as something solely defined by chromosomes at birth. These recent events have encouraged hate crimes and spurred violence against LGBTQI+ communities.
In their recent annual review, ILGA Europe (the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) revealed that abuse and hate speech against LGBTQI+ people in 2021 has grown sizably across Europe and Central Asia. Politicians have verbally attacked LGBTQI+ people in almost 20 countries whereas religious thoughts were used against LGBTQI+ people in some countries such as Belarus, Greece, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine. Even in some countries including Turkey, LGBTQI+ people were deemed as the main cause of the pandemic. In parallel, there has also been a substantial rise in hate speech in online platforms.
All of these developments are an indication of how LGBTQI+ people can be ‘scapegoated’ in turbulent times to legitimatize governments’ discriminatory practices. The Boğazici University case is one such instance and it shows the multifaceted nature of discrimination targeting LGBTQI+ people at different levels ranging from official bodies, police, social media and society in general.
Hope…
There is strong solidarity at both national and international levels supporting the struggles for academic freedom and autonomy in Turkey. The demonstrations still continue on social media with hashtags such as #AşağıBakmayacağız, or #WeWillNotLookDown and #BoğaziçiAblukada, or #BoğaziçiUnderSiege. #LGBTİHaklarıİnsanHaklarıdır, or #LGBTIRightsAreHumanRights, is one to protest against accusations levelled against LGBTQI+ people. It quickly became a TT (trend topic) in Turkey.
At the international level many politicians, artists, and non-governmental organizations shared their solidarity messages on different platforms. A joint statement condemning the Turkish government has been released, which was signed by almost 5,000 thinkers and writers from around the world including internationally known scholars like Judith Butler, Seyla Benhabib, Noam Chomsky, Joan W. Scott and David Harvey.
The statement, which is still open for signature, calls on the Turkish Government to respect university autonomy. It reads:
‘We the undersigned condemn these actions and stand in solidarity with the students and faculty of Boğaziçi University. We call upon Professor Bulu to decline the position and we call upon the Turkish government to release any students still in custody, withdraw all charges, and respect academic freedom and university autonomy.’
The Social Lens: A Social Work Blog - The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the original author(s) and do not express the views of the UBC School of Social Work and/or the other contributors to the blog. The blog aims to uphold the School's values and mission.
