THE GUARDIAN: Scant progress for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights in peril ahead of polls as president’s ‘family values’ rhetoric stokes culture war
At campaign rallies across Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has missed no opportunity to attack gay and trans people. “We are against the LGBT,” he told one rally near the Black Sea. “Family is sacred to us – a strong family means a strong nation.”
At another rally earlier this month, Erdoğan accused every party in Turkey’s opposition coalition of being LGBT.
When Turkish voters go to the polls in parliamentary and presidential elections on 14 May, LGBTQ+ rights as well as women’s rights will be on the ballot. Erdoğan has withdrawn Turkey from the Council of Europe’s Istanbul convention on violence against women and pushed a conservative vision of family values while attacking groups that defend women and queer rights.
For many Turkish women and the LGBTQ+ community, the forthcoming vote represents a stark choice. They say Erdoğan’s re-election risks further fuelling a culture war that he and his supporters have done much to inflame, empowering institutions to crack down on anyone seen as different and to turn a blind eye to a statewide problem of violence against women, gay and trans people. » | Ruth Michaelson and Deniz Barış Narlı | Friday, May 12, 2023
LIRE AUSSI :
« La défaite d’Erdogan à la présidentielle turque est secrètement souhaitée à Paris, Berlin ou Washington » : L’hypothèse d’une alternance à Ankara, longtemps illusoire, est désormais prise au sérieux par les Occidentaux, explique, dans sa chronique, Philippe Ricard, journaliste au « Monde ». »
Une élection cruciale pour la Turquie et au-delà : Après vingt ans d’un pouvoir sans partage, Recep Tayyip Erdogan brigue un troisième mandat présidentiel, lors des élections prévues dimanche 14 mai. Sa défaite marquerait un nouveau départ pour la population, qui gagnerait en libertés, et un renouveau dans les relations avec l’Union européenne et les Etats-Unis. »
