Turkish police block commemoration of trans hate crime victims

Duvar English

On Nov. 20, Trans Day of Remembrance, LGBTI+ activists in Istanbul were prevented by police from distributing sweets in the street, a common way of commemorating passed ones in Turkey.

The 10th Istanbul Trans Pride Week Committee planned to distribute lokma (a traditional sweet in the Balkans and Middle East) in Istanbul's Beşiktaş Square to honor trans individuals who lost their lives to hate crimes or were driven to suicide.

According to the committee, the police did not try to prevent them before seeing the sweets were distributed for trans individuals. 

Afterward, the police intervened to prevent the distribution of sweets, conducting identity checks on trans activists, people waiting in line for the treat, and the workers preparing them.

To continue their protests, the activist unfurled trans flags around Istanbul and projected the name of Eylül Cansın who died by suicide in 2015 due to transphobic violence, to Istanbul’s iconic bridges in the Bosporus. 

Police detains protesters in Ankara 

Police also attacked the march organized by the Ankara Pride Week Committee for Trans Day of Remembrance, detaining four people, including a lawyer, with force.

Police interrupted the press statement midway and attacked trans activists, according to a reporting by LGBTI+ news site KaosGL. The intense violence used by the police was captured on camera, while rights advocates chanted slogans such as “Murdered trans individuals are our rebellion.”

The activists were later released.

Commemorations around country

In Aegean İzmir province, lawyers and trans rights advocates gathered in front of the İzmir Bar Association following a joint call by the November 20 Association and the İzmir Bar to hold a demonstration commemorating trans victims of hate crimes. 

Similarly, in Mediterranean Mersin province, a protest was organized by the Human Rights Association (İHD) Mersin Branch, with participation from local LGBTQ+ organizations Muamma and 7 Renk.

Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party lawmaker Özgül Saki on Nov. 19 also addressed the Turkish Parliament’s General Assembly to speak out against hate crimes targeting trans individuals.

"November 20 is a day of solidarity against the politics of hatred directed at trans women. I call on this Parliament to condemn these hate policies because this issue is among the most overlooked. Let us abandon hostility towards sexual orientation and gender identity, recognize that LGBTQ+ individuals are part of this country's political struggle, and issue a statement condemning transphobia from this Assembly on November 20," Saki told lawmakers, including the ones from the ruling coalition who targeted LGBTI+ community in the country often in the recent years.

According to the Trans Murder Monitoring project, 68 trans murder victims were reported from 2008 to September 2024.