PROJE HAKKINDA.

I. Introduction

 

1. The Third-Party Interveners (‘the Interveners’) submit these comments by leave of the President of the Second Section of the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’ or ‘the Court’) granted on 18 October 2024 under Rule 44(3) of the Rules of Court.

 

2. The present case concerns Ankara Governorate’s ban imposed on 18 May 2016 on a Pride March planned for 22 May 2016 (App. no. 27507/23) and the indefinite ban dated 17 November 2017 on all collective activities of pro-LGBTI+ rights civil society organisations (App. no. 5797/22), including the applicant association.

 

3. Drawing on expertise as organisations specialising in international human rights law and working extensively on human rights in Türkiye, the Interveners will address the following issues arising in this case, which are directly linked to the Court’s deliberations under Articles 10, 11, 13 and 14 of the Convention in the context of LGBTI+ rights: the systematic bans on assemblies and collective activities of the LGBTI+ community in Türkiye (Section II); the domestic mechanisms for challenging administrative bans on LGBTI+ assemblies and events, and their compatibility with Article 13 standards (Section III); other practices by Turkish authorities that have impeded LGBTI+ individuals from exercising their rights under Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention (Section IV); and the discriminatory nature of the Turkish authorities’ escalating bans and practices targeting LGBTI+ individuals and community (Section V).