We Don’t Accept, We Don’t Give Up!

As EUI-LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group, we would like to demonstrate our solidarity with BU-LGBTI+ in İstanbul, Turkey.

On January 1st, 2021, the rector of Boğaziçi University was appointed without any democratic election in the university. This act of violation of academic freedom and scientific autonomy has been contested by professors, students, and workers of the university for many weeks. Unfortunately, the violence has escalated since January 29, 2021. One art piece was targeted by the radical groups, which claimed the humiliating effect of the piece on Islam because of the assemblage of the image of Kaaba and of the LGBTIQ flags in the same picture. The homophobic and anti-intellectual discourses have increased in social media since that day. Two students who organized the exhibition were arrested by the court in the same weekend. A student demonstration was brutally repressed by the police on February 1st. On the same day, the appointed rector announced the official shut down of BU-LGBTI+ social community that was holding a candidate status as an official student social club.

As the EUI-LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group, we would like to state our support of the existence of LGBTIQ communities on campuses all around the world. We condemn the homophobic attacks and the attacks against freedom of speech in the universities. LGBTIQ communities have all the rights to be present in universities that are the symbols of democratic thought.

We share the concerns of our friends and colleagues in Turkey. As EUI-LGBTIQ Working Group, we are a close follower of violations of human rights and academic freedom in Boğaziçi University. BU-LGBTI+ is not alone.

#wewillnotlookdown

EUI-LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group

February 3, 2021, Fiesole, Italy

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