Turkish court annuls decision to ban last year’s Pride March in Aegean İzmir

An appeals court has ruled that the ban on the 10th İzmir Pride March was unlawful and annulled it. The decision comes a year after the march was banned by the İzmir Governor’s Office.

Friday July 21 2023 03:41 pm

Duvar English

A Turkish appeals court has annulled a decision by the İzmir Governor’s Office to ban last year’s Pride March in the province.

The 10th İzmir Pride March was banned just two days prior to the event which was scheduled for June 2022. Despite all the obstacles, activists held the march, leading to the battery and detention of 12 people. Afterwards, Youth LGBTI+ Association took the ban decision to the judiciary.

A court of first instance ruled that the governor’s decision was lawful, prompting the association to take the case to a higher court. A year later after the march, the İzmir Regional Administrative Court found the ban decision unlawful and annulled the ruling.

Youth LGBTI+ Association said that the court had “accepted that pride marches have a purpose of creating a social awareness about the hate, discrimination and violence faced by LGBTI+ individuals, and that pride marches are a basic right and freedom which needs to be protected in a democratic society for its contribution to pluralism and peaceful existence.”

The Turkish government’s crackdown on the country’s LGBTI+ individuals has accelerated in recent months, with the authorities banning nearly all events that the marginalized community scheduled for summer.