Turkish gov't uses public resources to promote anti-LGBTI+ hate rally
The President of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has authorized the broadcast of a “public service announcement” promoting an anti-LGBTI+ hate march on the council's official website, to be aired on TV channels.
Duvar English
The President of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has allowed the publication of the so-called public service announcement prepared by the “Big Family Platform” to promote an anti-LGBTI+ hate rally that will be organized in Istanbul on Sept. 15.
According to the online news outlet 12Punto, the council did not vote on the broadcast of the announcement at its last meeting, and the decision was postponed to a meeting on Sept. 11.
Nevertheless, the video was listed under the “public service announcements” on the RTÜK’s website with the aim, “to inform the public about the ‘Big Family Gathering and Silent March’ event to be held on Sept. 15, 2024.”
Tuncay Keser, a member of RTÜK from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), stated that they made their objections on the issue and emphasized that the video was also recommended to be broadcast until March 2025.
The below video showing the promotion of the hate rally published on the RTÜK's website.
After the meeting on Sept. 11, CHP’s Keser announced that the video was approved for broadcast, provided that a certain part was removed, though he did not specify which part was to be excluded.
Nationalist and Islamist groups have been organizing anti-LGBTI+ hate rallies in many cities across the country, especially in mega-city Istanbul, since 2022 with state support and protection.
The anti-LGBTI+ group, while claiming that the LGBTI+ community is an “exported threat by globalist groups,” actually bases its ideas on international far-right groups and Christian evangelist ideology, presented with an Islamist narrative.
In 2022, an anti-LGBTI+ rally was held in Istanbul’s Fatih district under the name of “Great Family Gathering” for the second time. Turkey’s media watchdog RTÜK once again broadcasted the rally’s promotion video as a “public service announcement” on TV channels back then.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has had a particularly firm stance against LGBTI+ community in the country since the Gezi Park protests of 2013 and the coup attempt of 2016.
The annual LGBTI+ pride parade in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities has been banned since 2016, and those who have marched regardless have been met with police violence.