The logo of the group commemorates the badge LGBTs were forced to wear in Nazi Genocide Camps
Black Pink Triangle Association in Izmir is the fifth LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) organization that faces closure threat from the Turkish government. The first hearing will take place on February 9, 2010. The reason for closure threat is once again being “against the law and morality.”
The association members stated that: “The prosecutor’s demand for closure of our association is clearly a violation of civil rights. Establishing an organization is a constitutional right and they want to take that right from us.”
Source: bird of paradox
When Black Pink Triangle Association was founded on February 20, 2009, all the necessary legal documentation was filed to the Governor’s Office.
On May 26, 2009 the association received a notification from Governor’s Office requesting the organization to correct some of the mistakes on the application form. However the Governor’s Office also demanded correction of some of the founding statutes of Black Pink Triangle Association claiming that the association’s objections are against Turkish “moral values and family structure”.
Although the mistakes in the application form were corrected, the Association refused to change the statutes as per Governor’s request. They also stated that Kaos GL (an LGBT organization in Ankara) and Lambda Istanbul (an LGBT organization in Istanbul) have exact same statutes and after long legal battles they were able to exist as legal and legitimate institutions.
On October 16, 2009, following the receipt of Black Pink Triangle Association’s response, Governor’s Office filed a lawsuit against them and demanded closure of the institution.
Black Pink Triangle Association’s lawyer Elif Ceylan Ozsoy stated to Kaos GL that she found the action disturbing. She also pointed out the similar actions were taken against Kaos GL, Pink Life and Lambda Istanbul organizations and they failed.
Activists encourage anybody concerned with this issue to write letters of support to: dernek@siyahpembe.org
