Vahdet

High turnout at the hate crimes panel in Mersin

Ismail Saymaz from the Radikal newspaper and Yıldız Tar from Kaos GL participated in the “Hate Crimes” panel, on “Hrant Dink and Zirve Publishing House Assassinations” and “Sexual Orientation- and Gender Identity-based Hate Crimes,” at Mersin University. The panel was moved to a larger lecture hall due to high turnout.

mersin-universitesi-nefret-suclari-paneli

Photo by Salih-i Umar

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Islamist daily Vahdet calls for LGBTI organizations to be closed down

Islamist daily Vahdet covered Turkish courts’ past rejections of closure requests made against LGBTI associations Kaos GL and Lambdaistanbul as the “judicial promotion of immorality”.

Source: Ömer Akpınar, “Vahdet’ten “LGBTİ örgütleri kapatılsın” çağrısı!”, (“Islamist daily calls for LGBTI organizations to be closed down!”), kaosGL.org, 23 February 2015, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=18819

Vahdet was founded in December 2014 by journalists who left Yeni Akit, another extremist newspaper infamous for its hate speech against ethnic, religious and sexual minorities in Turkey. As the last part of its discriminatory attacks, the paper put forth news about the closure requests against Kaos GL Association in 2005 and Lambdaistanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association in 2006.

The Turkish Constitutional Court acknowledged last year that referring to gays as “perverts” is hate speech. However, Vahdet still called Kaos GL and Lambdaistanbul “the NGOs of perverse circles”, deeming the verdicts that the associations are not “contrary to morality” to be a “trump card given to the perverts by the court.”

Vahdet rediscovers LGBTI history in Turkey

Islamist and conservative media organs have been instrumentalizing homophobic and transphobic hate discourse to attack the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as the country’s LGBTI movement rises despite having no support from the government.

Vahdet claimed that “the immoral circles gain protection to continue their activities freely due to some judicial verdicts”, targeting previous decisions in favor of LGBTIs’ freedom of expression and organization.

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High School LGBTI group targeted by the newspaper Vahdet

The new addition to Vahdet newspaper’s list of news reports targeting LGBTI is the one about LGBTI high school group that will join the education rally and boycott [on 13 February 2015].

Source: “Vahdet’in hedefinde Liseli LGBTİ var: Sapkınların hedefi liseliler” (“High School LGBTI group targeted by the newspaper Vahdet: High Schoolers targeted by perverts”), kaosGL.org, February 6, 2014, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=18663.

Vahdet, a newspaper founded by a splinter group from Yeni Akit, another paper known for its news reports that target LGBTI people and reproduce hate discourse, called the high school LGBTI group a “pervert group.”  Below are statements from the report written by Osman Yiğit:

“Sexual pervert groups who have the support of the CHP[1] and HDP[2] now turn to high school and try to inject the youth with their immorality.  The perverts who founded a group called “High School LGBTI” invite students to picnics, trips and pervert film screenings aiming to expand their field of action.”

The report which claimed that citizens do not want LGBTI people in the schools also reprinted a report from kaosGL.org about an “8 year old transgender child’s coming out rap”.

Vahdet and Yeni Akit join in hate

The report, which characterized the call by the LGBTI student group for ungendered restrooms a disgrace, was titled “Restroom Scandal in High School”.

The high school LGBTI group had protested in a press statement the news report by Yeni Akit last March (2014) titled, “The Perverts Pester High Schools”.

“Disgrace” according to Vahdet, “No to Discrimination in Education” in reality

High school LGBTI will lend their support to the protest rally on February 8th and the atention [drawing] boycott on February 13th, organized by the leadership of Alevi Associations, objecting to the decisions issued by the 19th Education Council to “deny the proposal of Alevism as a topic to be expanded in books used in religion classes” and to “offer religion classes to first grade elementary schools.”

[1] CHP: Republican People’s Party
[2] HDP: Peoples’ Democratic Party

Vahdet Newspaper: “High Schoolers Targeted by Perverts”

The group called  “High School LGBTI” who demand that girls and boys restrooms be joined  in schools, is preparing for an education boycott. The pervert group is also seeking to enlarge their field of action by inviting students to picnics and pervert film screenings.

Source: Osman Yiğit, “Sapkınların Hedefi Liseliler”, (“High Schoolers Targeted by Perverts”), Vahdet, February 6, 2014, http://www.gazetevahdet.com/sapkinlarin-hedefi-liseliler-8458h.htm

Sexual pervert groups who have the support of the CHP and HDP turn to high schools to inject the youth with their immorality. The perverts who founded the group “high school LGBTI” are seeking to enlarge their field of action by inviting students to picnics, trips and pervert film screenings.

Secular Education Protest Rally

The pervert group who decided to join and support the “Secular Education-Democratic Life” Rally which will be held on February 8th in Kadikoy led by Egitim-Sen[1] and Gezi Park activists[2] also stated that they will join the school boycott on February 13th, also organized by the same groups.

Against the Imam Hatip Schools

The pervert “High School LGBTI” group will use the slogan “No to backward, sexist, homophobic education!” in protests where hatred will be spewed against Imam Hatip Schools. There are concerns that the pervert “High School LGBTI” group will spread their activities inside the schools and classrooms once classes resume.

First Target Restrooms!

The “High School LGBTI” group demands the abolishment of gender segregated restrooms in schools which cause gender discrimination as their first target. Parents who object to the pervert group state that they should not be allowed to turn schools into protest fields.

[1] Union of Education Employees
[2] This refers to the activists who joined the historic anti-AKP Gezi park protests in June 2013 in Istanbul.

Conservative paper asking for “tear gas” targets LGBTIs

Conservative newspaper Vahdet has targeted Kaos GL Association for supporting an Amnesty International campaign to stop tear gas supply to Turkey.

Source: “Conservative paper asking for “tear gas” targets LGBTIs!” Kaos GL, 9 January 2015, http://kaosgl.org/page.php?id=18460

Woman in Red

“Woman in red” – one of the iconic photographs of the Gezi Park protests

Vahdet [Unity] has targeted Kaos GL for supporting Amnesty International’s campaign, “South Korea: Stop tear gas supply or risk fuelling repression in Turkey.” The conservative newspaper named the association as “the perverts’ association.”

Yeni Akit’s hate speech continues with Vahdet

Vahdet was founded last month by some of the journalists who left Yeni Akit, another conservative newspaper infamous for its hate speech against minorities. Vahdet published that the Amnesty International campaign demands that South Korea immediately stop the planned shipment of massive amounts of tears gas to Turkey with the headline “See the Worries of the Axis of Evil!”

Vahdet's Headlines

“See the worries of the axis of evil!”
“A series of campaigns have been initiated to prevent the use of tear gas, one of the important functions of which is to disable the agent provocateurs in social events. Kaos GL, the perverts’ association, is also supporting the campaign.”

The newspaper labeled the campaign as “a dirty organization” and Kaos GL Association as “the perverts’ association” in a news article published on January 6, 2015.

According to Amnesty International, there is a planned export to Turkey of nearly 1.9 million tear gas cartridges and gas grenades. The first batch of riot control equipment is scheduled for delivery by a South Korean company to the Turkish government in mid-January 2015.

Court: Referring to gays as “perverse” is hate speech

In July 2014, for the first time, hate speech on the grounds of sexual orientation had a role in the decisions of the Turkish Constitutional Court. The Court acknowledged that calling gays “perverse” is hate speech.