{"id":42872,"date":"2026-03-18T15:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/42872\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T15:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T15:56:11","slug":"amnesty-urges-turkey-to-drop-charges-against-11-lgbtq-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/42872\/","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty urges Turkey to drop charges against 11 LGBTQ+ activists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AI-Young-LGBTQ.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"295\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- alt=\"\" title=\"AI-Young LGBTQ+\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AI-Young-LGBTQ-696x295.jpg\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"295\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AI-Young-LGBTQ-696x295.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"AI-Young LGBTQ+\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Amnesty International has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org.tr\/icerik\/lgbti-haklari-savunuculari-yargilaniyor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">launched a campaign<\/a> urging Turkish authorities to drop charges against 11 LGBTQ+ activists who are being prosecuted over social media posts the authorities labelled as \u201cobscene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emirhan \u015ea\u015fmaz, Kerem Dikmen and nine other board members of the \u0130zmir-based Young LGBTI+ Association are facing trial for alleged violations of Turkey\u2019s Law on Associations.<\/p>\n<p>The \u0130zmir Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office filed an indictment on October 28, 2025, also citing an alleged violation of Article 41 of the constitution on protection of the family and children\u2019s rights. The \u0130zmir 47th Court of First Instance accepted the indictment and scheduled the first hearing for April 8.<\/p>\n<p>The charges are based on an investigation report that labeled five artistic designs shared by the association between 2019 and 2022 as \u201cobscene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a separate case the \u0130zmir 3rd Court of First Instance <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/turkish-court-orders-closure-of-lgbtq-group-despite-non-prosecution-in-obscenity-probe\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ordered<\/a> the association\u2019s closure on December 11, 2025. The association has appealed the ruling, with the case currently pending.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccusations of \u2018obscenity\u2019 and the use of vague \u2018morality\u2019 laws to prosecute the association\u2019s board members and close the group represent an unlawful restriction of their right to freedom of association and expression,\u201d Amnesty said.<\/p>\n<p>Amnesty International has launched an online petition urging the \u0130zmir chief public prosecutor to immediately drop all charges against the activists and to uphold Turkey\u2019s obligations under international human rights law.<\/p>\n<p>The human rights watchdog said the same obscenity allegations had previously been investigated, with prosecutors issuing a decision of non-prosecution in August 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Thirty human rights organizations had earlier <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/human-rights-groups-say-closure-of-lgbtq-association-violates-freedoms-further-pressures-civil-society-in-turkey\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">condemned<\/a> the court\u2019s closure ruling, saying the ruling violates the freedoms of association and expression and criminalizes human rights advocacy.<\/p>\n<p>Turkey was ranked 47th out of 49 countries in the 2025\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/rainbowmap.ilga-europe.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rainbow Index<\/a>, an annual assessment of LGBTQ+ rights, which placed it among the bottom five in Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amnesty International has launched a campaign urging Turkish authorities to drop charges against 11 LGBTQ+ activists who are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[1237,24298,24299,11968,24300,24301,24302,24303,24304,131,132,24305],"class_list":{"0":"post-42872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-amnesty-international","9":"tag-emirhan-sasmaz","10":"tag-freedom-of-association","11":"tag-freedom-of-expression","12":"tag-kerem-dikmen","13":"tag-law-on-associations","14":"tag-lgbtq-rights-in-turkey","15":"tag-obscenity","16":"tag-protection-of-family","17":"tag-stockholm","18":"tag-sweden","19":"tag-young-lgbtq-association"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116250999811133916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}