31/08/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
“With the excitement of the days we will live together in fraternity: may this Peace Day be celebrated in joy, in happiness, and in hope.”
LGBTI+ rights defender Enes Hocaoğulları, who is held in Sincan No. 2 L-Type Closed Prison, sent a message to Kaos GL on the occasion of September 1st, World Peace Day.
In his message, Hocaoğulları emphasized that his unjust and unlawful imprisonment introduced him to the reality of Turkey:
“In my own bubble, I used to believe that the mosaic of Türkiye was made up of colors that could never appear harmoniously side by side. I thought I would never reach them, never make their struggles my own. Yet here I am, writing with certainty after experiencing it firsthand: I was wrong. When the government locked me up with these very colors and people in a cell just a few square meters wide, I realized I was mistaken.”
Drawing attention to the friendships he built with people from different backgrounds in prison, Hocaoğulları said that despite the polarization the government tries to create, people resemble one another and peace is possible:
“As citizens whom the government has tried hardest to estrange and set against one another, we have built the most sincere friendships. In the very place where the regime thought we were opposites and tried to pit us against each other, we have found such profound solidarity in each other’s struggles that now we wholeheartedly believe: the wounds of this land’s people can only be healed by embracing one another.”
Hocaoğulları concluded his message with an emphasis on peace and living together in fraternity:
“My greetings to all my siblings, from Mesopotamia to Thrace, from the Caucasus to the Aegean. With the excitement of the days we will live together in fraternity: may this Peace Day be celebrated in joy, in happiness, and in hope.”
Hocaoğulları’s full message is as follows:
On this Peace Day, I would like to thank those who unjustly, unlawfully, and arbitrarily imprisoned me—for introducing me to the reality of Türkiye.
In my own bubble, I used to believe that the mosaic of Türkiye was made up of colors that could never appear harmoniously side by side. I thought I would never reach them, never make their struggles my own. Yet here I am, writing with certainty after experiencing it firsthand: I was wrong.
When the government locked me up with these very colors and people in a cell just a few square meters wide, I realized I was mistaken.
As citizens whom the government has tried hardest to estrange and set against one another, we have built the most sincere friendships. In the very place where the regime thought we were opposites and tried to pit us against each other, we have found such profound solidarity in each other’s struggles that now we wholeheartedly believe: the wounds of this land’s people can only be healed by embracing one another. We see and feel that this mosaic is not only beautiful but also compatible. We realize that the people of this land resemble one another far more than they differ.
As I proudly proclaim myself an LGBTI+ rights defender, I also declare: whoever you are, whatever you do, you are my sibling. My greetings to all my siblings, from Mesopotamia to Thrace, from the Caucasus to the Aegean. With the excitement of the days we will live together in fraternity: may this Peace Day be celebrated in joy, in happiness, and in hope.
From Sincan Type L No. 2 Prison,
Enes Hocaoğulları
Tags: human rights, media, life
