In Turkey, the LGBT+ community does not welcome Recep Tayyip Erdogan's victory on Sunday. Throughout the campaign, he insulted them, used to attack the opposition and accuse it of wanting to destroy the family values he brings to the pinnacle: the re-election of the Islamic-conservative president frightens LGBT people who fear being targeted, including physically, because of their sexual orientation.

"I'm really scared. I already couldn't breathe before and now they will try to strangle me," Ilker Erdogan, a 20-year-old student, said Saturday on the eve of the election in the Kadiköy district on the Asian side of Istanbul.

Erdogan's regular attacks

And it must be said that on the evening of his victory, Erdogan did nothing to dispel fears. From his first speech, the president regaled his supporters by asking: "Is the CHP (the party of his unfortunate opponent, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu) LGBT? Is the HDP (pro-Kurdish) LGBT? ». And the crowd roared: "Yesiiiii!" Then: "Is the AKP (his party) LGBT?" - "Nooooooon!"

In a meeting during the electoral campaign, the head of state never failed to attack the community, launching that "no LGBT can be the product of this nation!" His Minister of the Interior, Süleyman Soylu, for his part, denounced the LGBT+ "religion" imported according to him "from America and Europe". "When they talk about LGBT+, it includes the marriage of animals and humans," he also claimed.

"No consequences if we are killed"

"I have experienced more hate speech and acts than I have experienced in a long time; they threw coffee at me from a car and yelled at me in the street," said Ameda Murat Karaguzu, 26, a project manager at an LGBT+ rights group. For her, "this hate speech" of President Erdogan "encourages homophobic, transphobic and anti-LGBT+ people in the streets because they know that there will be no consequences if we are killed or hurt".

Tugba Baykal, a 39-year-old documentary filmmaker and LGBT+ activist, has decided to leave the country. "People are treated like criminals just because they exist." She is sure that the demand for visas to emigrate will increase. She herself will try her luck in the United States: "a decision that would have been much more difficult to make if our country was more welcoming."

  • World
  • Turkey
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan
  • LGBT+ Movement
  • Homophobia
  • Transphobia