Gay march cancelled in Bursa

Angry crowd ensures gay march in Bursa is canceled after protests. Police have been forced to cancel a planned demonstration by gay rights activists in Bursa after anti-gay protesters took to the streets to scupper the march.

Hundreds of football club Bursaspor supporters lined the route of the planned demonstration and threw stones at the offices of the local homosexual association, Gokkusagi (Rainbow).

Police ordered the demonstrators to remain inside the Gokkusagi building until the protestors dispersed. At first, the police said the march was delayed by one hour. Bursaspor supporters at first believed the march was cancelled and dispersed, but when they realized it was just postponed, they returned. Police were forced to cancel the march.

Organizers claimed the police had failed to take adequate measures to ensure the march could go ahead.

Gokkusagi was founded in March this year to support gays, lesbians and transsexuals. The Bursa Governor's Office filed a complaint against the association, accusing it of promoting immoral actions. In reaction, the group called for a nationwide campaign, which was supported by similar groups around the country. The group asked for permission for a protest march in Bursa and the Governor's Office approved it in the name of freedom of expression.

Gokkusagi's president, Omer Evren, speaking at a press conference, said they would file a complaint against the Bursaspor club, promising to stage an even bigger march next year.

"The police could have taken the required measures, but they didn't. They even sought to dissuade us from holding the event," Emir Birant, an activist from the Ankara-based KAOS-GL gay rights advocacy group, told Agence France-Presse by telephone from Bursa.

"There was absolutely no help from the authorities, which clearly demonstrates how homosexuals are regarded in Turkey," Birant said.

The demonstration was organized to denounce legal action by the Bursa governor seeking the closure of Gokkusagi on grounds its activities did not comply with morals and family values.

On Saturday, the leader of a local football fan group had called on residents to prevent the march, saying, "Bursa, once the capital of the Ottomans, cannot be identified with such people," the Anatolia news agency reported.

In Turkey, same-sex relationships have never been criminalized as in other Muslim countries.

Turkish gay groups complain that the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join, has failed to lend them adequate support and have called on Brussels to speak out in favor of their struggle for equal rights.


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