LGBT Pride March 2017 banned in Turkey's İstanbul
On Saturday (June 24), İstanbul’s Governor’s Office released a statement announcing that the Pride March will not be permitted to be held in the city.
In its statement, the office of the governor said the reason for the ban was ‘security concerns.’
While the LGBT community has been holding a variety of activities in the city, such as workshops, panels, plays, and art performances throughout the pride week, the annual Pride March is scheduled to take place in İstanbul’s famous İstiklal Street in Taksim.
Governor’s statement, however, expressed that the place mentioned in calls – on social media - of members of the LGBT community was ‘not among the assembling places designated by the Governor’s Office’ and that an application suiting the current terms was not submitted to the office.
The statement also gave place to ‘reactions observed on social media to such march’ and said ‘due to security concerns’, it will not be held.
The public in İstanbul was encouraged by the Governor to ‘avoid taking the calls for such a meeting seriously’ and ‘abide by the orders of the security forces’.
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/istanbul-valiligi-onur-yuruyusu-ne-izin-verilmeyecek-166522.html