Wot?! Gay Pride In Turkey!

Participants wave a huge rainbow flag during a Gay Pride Parade in central Istanbul. REUTERS Photo / Osman Orsal

Istanbul is the capital of an Islamist government in Turkey. Where the Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan must surely be squirming with discomfort. Not only because of all the protests that have been taking place in the country this year, and the popular secular outrage of Turks over their prime minister's autocratic dictates and the revelations of corruption within the government, but because homosexuality is not yet illegal in Turkey.

Which has empowered the country's LGBT (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender) community to appear in their colourful thousands on Istanbul's main pedestrian street, Istiklal Avenue. Which is where this year's gay pride parade took place. Nothing untoward occurred, which was nice for the LGBT crowd, though police were there to intervene 'in the event of violence'; the march, however, was a peaceful, celebratory one.

Where those present waved rainbow flags and holding signage for an end to homophobia. "Love knows no gender", read one; "Another kind of family is possible", read another, and "Stop homophobia" read yet another sign. "In Turkey, we all have difficulty exercising our rights. This is why we must fight and why we all walk together today", stated Aykut Yanak, one of the participants of the homophobia that remains firmly entrenched among the conservative population.

Islamists took issue both with the fact that the government permitted the LGBT community to hold the event, and that the parade happened to coincide with the start of the holy month of Ramadan. The violent government crackdown last year sparked by a controversy over popular Gezi park destined to become a commercial venue began the public's backlash against the government, when protesters took to the streets in protest against heavy-handed rule.

"Where are you my love?" chanted part of the marching crowd. Others within the crowd responded: "I am here my love." "Put your legs on your shoulders against fascism", "We are the soldiers of Freddy Mercury", "AKP go away, the queers are here", and "The earth would shake if queers were free", represented additional popular slogans appearing on banners.

There was some tension when police blocked entry to Taksim Square in a deliberate action to prevent the march from entering the symbolic area of Gezi Park, cordoned off an hour before the march began. Some of the activists painted the infamous water cannons omnipresent on Istiklal Avenue with rebellious messages. It's called getting the message through to the authorities. Seemed they did a quite creditable job of it, too.

Reuters