Interview with the Istanbul-based HEVI association working on LGBTI+ refugees living or forced to live in Turkey.
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Velvele Pride Playlist: You Can’t Knock Us Down!
This year, we asked our readers to choose the songs. As we need to look each other, and see each other more than ever, we asked our social media accounts: What is your Pride Month song?
A brief history of the Istanbul Pride March (1993-2022)
This is a chronology of not only the LGBTIQA+ Pride marches in Istanbul, but also the preventive efforts of state authorities in the city to ban the march.
Velvele & Harem of No One IG Live: Our Queer Immigrant Lives (from Syria to Turkey & UK)
Harem of No One performance artist G Spot and Velvele editor & writer Fulden talk about personal experiences of migration in separate phases and countries, through the queer lens.
Velvele Reports: Elections in Turkey #8
İlker Hepkaner prepared the last report on the 2023 Elections in Turkey.
Yeşil Sol Party’s feminist candidate Özgül Saki: We need a political axis which will eliminate the ‘family is sacred’ concept
Lara Özlen spoke with feminist Özgül Saki, the Yeşil Sol Party’s MP candidate from the 2nd district of Istanbul; Translated into English by Mertcan Karakuş.
Esmeray’s candidacy to carry the voice of the street to Parliament and the political will of the LGBTI+ movement
Trans woman activist and actress Esmeray, who is TİP’s Istanbul 2nd District MP candidate, answered Lara Özlen’s questions; translated into English by Efe Levent.
ÜniKuir: the LGBTQI+ organizing at universities is getting stronger despite hate politics
Hazan Özturan asked, Mahmut Şeren from ÜniKuir, Turkey’s largest LGBTI+ university organization, answered.
The opposition’s saddening stance on the LGBTQI+ issue in Turkey
In his first article, Kaos GL activist and Green Left Party PM member Remzi Altunpolat focused on the anti-LGBTIQ+ policies of the AKP government. In his second article, he focuses on the opposition’s record on LGBTIQ+ rights.