METU Rectorate declares that they won’t let Pride March

METU Rectorate declares that they won’t let Pride March - ÜniKuir

METU Rectorate declares that they won’t let Pride March

“If the insistence of this unauthorised march planned on our campus continues, all necessary security measures will be taken.”

Photo: 2016 METU Pride

After 2 years, METU LGBTIQAA+ Solidarity announced that they will organize a Pride March, and invited all of the students to the Pride March on June 10 with the #HATIRLA (REMEMBER) slogan. Activists from the Solidarity who talked to ÜniKuir said that the Rectorate in their communication clearly said “Do not march” implying “something bad might happen to you”.

On Tuesday morning, the Rectorate declared via email to students and graduates that they will not let the March and characterised the calls to Pride March as “various posts trying to present the campus of our university as a centre of unauthorised marches in our country.”. In case a Pride March happens on the campus, the Rectorate announced that they are going to take “all the measures for security”.

Also, it is claimed in the announcement that the Pride March is going to damage METU’s institutional integrity and image while also calling to prevent that “damage” all together.

Before the 9th Pride March that took place in 2019, the Rectorate invited the Police into the Campus where students were taken into custody with torture.

“Tried to be portrayed as if we were a group trying to turn the school upside down”

After the announcement, the activist from METU LGBTQİAA+ Solidarity who talked to ÜniKuir said that the Rectorate whom they communicated beforehand changed their attitude in the announcement and is now acting like as if they have not talked and trying to portray the students as “a group of troublemaker”.

The young activist pointed out that the emphasis on preventing the damage all together and notified that this announcement can be understood as a hate call. The Solidarity clarified that they are determined to do the March despite everything and they are going to sue against that ban.

Full text of the Rectorate's announcement 

"Dear students, 

It’s understood from different posts that a certain group is trying to present the campus of our university as an unauthorized march center in our country. It is not allowed to the group who planned the march on Friday, June 10, 2022, on the METU campus for the march their planned and it’s been officially indicated to them by our Dean of students that if they want they can do make their march in the allocated and allowed places in Ankara. If the insistence of this unauthorized march planned on our campus continues, all necessary security measures will be taken.

It is only with mutual trust, open, constructive communication, and understanding that we can prevent the great harm that such initiatives can cause, which is clearly seen in the execution of the Spring Festival, which is trying to harm our university's productive, creative, peaceful academic-social environment, our institutional integrity, and our image. To achieve this, we believe that all the METU people especially our students will show the highest sensitivity in this matter."

Translator: Hazal

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