Istanbul, May 29th, 2008

Lambdaistanbul Court Case Decision: What’s Next?

On May 29th, 2008, the local court in Istanbul has announced its judgment for Lambdaistanbul LGBT Solidarity Association to be shut down. The legal process will go on with the Supreme Court of Appeals looking over the case file. The association is not yet closed down until there is a final decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Lambdaistanbul, a local organization which has been active since 1993, has been a registered association in May, 2006. However, the City Government of Istanbul has claimed the association’s statute to be against the law and public morality, and applied to the prosecutor’s office for a closing case against Lambdaistanbul. Although the prosecutor has rejected the case on the basis of freedom of association, the City Government has appealed to the decision, so the issue was taken to court. The proceedings started in July 2007. The sixth hearing of the case was heard on May 29th, 2008 in Beyoglu 3rd Civil Court of First Instance, and the local court has made a decision for Lambdaistanbul to be shut down, despite the legal expert’s report which stated that the association is not against the law or public morality.

The way we see this process is that LGBT organizations that currently exist either in practice or as registered entities in Turkey are trying to be pushed out of the legal domain. Instead of accepting their existence and protecting their basic rights, the state authorities choose to condemn LGBT people, by depriving them of their right to association.

We will go on with our work to raise our ground of legitimacy through legal recognition, knowing that it is a long road to build the legitimate ground for any struggle of rights.

We call the international community to support us in our work:

1. We invite your organization to support us:

We are organizing a press conference on Tuesday, June 3^rd, 2008 at 11 am in Istanbul to increase national and international awareness on this matter. If you want your organization’s name to appear on the list of organizations that support Lambdaistanbul and condemn the court decision to shut down Lambdaistanbul, please contact us at: lambda@lambdaistanbul.org by Monday June 2^nd until 23.00 pm. (time of Turkey).

2. We will make a demonstration on Saturday, June 7^th, to protest this court decision. We invite you to organize campaigns and demonstrations in your own area, in order to support our cause. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: lambda@lambdaistanbul.org

3. We will soon launch our campaign: “Don’t touch my association” and then we will share the details with you.

With solidarity,

Lambdaistanbul LGBT Solidarity Association