07/07/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
Life Memory Freedom Association brought the ban decision regarding the 3rd Eskişehir Pride Week events in 2023 to the Constitutional Court.
The 30-day ban decision taken by the Eskişehir Governor’s Office in 2023 to cover the events of Eskişehir Pride Week was brought to the Constitutional Court.
Following the ban decision on the Eskişehir Pride Week events to be held on July 7–9, 2023, a lawsuit was filed with a request for annulment and suspension of execution; the Governor’s Office claimed that the ban decision was taken due to “the possibility of disturbing certain segments of society,” “attacks and terrorist acts,” and “intelligence information.” The ban decision was brought to court with a request for suspension of execution, and the request was rejected.
The rejection decision of the first instance court was also approved by the court of appeal; the Regional Administrative Court ruled that the ban decision was lawful.
"It is not possible to take general decisions that prohibit peaceful demonstrations"
The ban decision targeting the 2023 Eskişehir Pride March by the Governor’s Office was brought to the Constitutional Court. In the application to the Constitutional Court made by Life Memory Freedom Association, it was stated that the rights to organize meetings and demonstrations, to disseminate and express opinions, to freedom of thought and belief, to personal integrity, to material and moral existence, to privacy of private life, and to equality before the law were violated. The application to the Constitutional Court included a request for retrial.
The application stated that it is not possible to take general decisions prohibiting peaceful demonstrations and noted the following:
“Such a restriction can only be accepted in cases where there are serious risks that cannot be eliminated by lighter measures. Except in cases of incitement to violence and rejection of democratic principles, the use of shocking and unacceptable views and words by the authorities, or the expression of illegitimate demands, cannot justify taking general measures restricting freedom of assembly. This would endanger democracy.”
The application also emphasized that the issue regulated in the legislation as “notification of the march” does not mean obtaining permission for the march, but that it is intended to inform the state in order to ensure the safety of the demonstrators:
“Above all, the obligation of being a state is not to ignore the rights of individuals on behalf of potential victims due to potential crimes that may be committed according to the values of the majority, and on the grounds that it cannot protect the potential victims. If there is a concern that such a crime may be committed by the majority, its primary duty is to protect the one who is in the position of exercising a fundamental right.”
What had happened?
Eskişehir Pride, in the press statement it made after the ban decision, used the following expressions:
“Last year, right here, while resisting the 15-day ban decision issued by Governor Erol Ayyıldız on the 2nd Eskişehir Pride Week events, the successive hate speeches and threats from government officials, the dozens of bans, repression, fear, and despite the death fatwas published one after another and distributed hand to hand, we said: ‘NO MATTER WHAT, DON’T TURN BACK, LUBUNYA!’ Despite pressure, threats, and torture with no legal or moral justification, all LGBTİ+ rights defenders who insist on equality have been acquitted in court today.
While we said DON’T TURN BACK in 2022, this year we say ‘From Earth to Sky’ and declare here that we will not give up commemorating and demanding accountability for every rights violation we have experienced, for our LGBTİ+ and women friends we lost in 2023, and that despite all oppression, violence, and hatred, we will not leave the streets and squares that belong to us.”
Tags: human rights
