Journalist and Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) Central Committee member İrfan Değirmenci was among at least 42 individuals detained during a public forum at Yoğurtçu Park in Kadıköy, part of TİP’s June Pride events in İstanbul.
TİP’s LGBTI+ bureau explains that the forum, held in connection with İstanbul Pride Month, was organised with official permission—from the local district governor’s office—and featured Değirmenci speaking about June Pride Month and “his experience as an LGBTI+ journalist and politician”.
Other detainees included TİP executives Ali Çoban, Ilgaz Özer and social media personality Bekir Aslan (“Basel”), who just a few days earlier had been released from detention in connection with a previous arrest.
Participants say officers surrounded the gathering as Değirmenci began to speak, swiftly putting several dozen people into reverse handcuffs. Detainees received health checks before being transferred to Istanbul’s Police Headquarters.
TİP strongly condemned the operation in a post on its official X account:
“The struggle for an equal and free life cannot be silenced. Our comrades must be released immediately.”
Journalist unions, including DİSK Basın‑İş (a major press workers trade union in Turkey), also condemned the intervention. “Journalism is not a crime, but preventing journalism is”, they said.
The incident occurred ahead of the 2025 Pride March, with authorities implementing security measures by closing several metro stations, including Taksim and Şişhane on the M2 line, and the entire Taksim–Kabataş funicular line (F1), from 8am on 29 June. These closures were part of broader restrictions in the Taksim and Şişli districts aimed at restricting access to a public space that is in actual fact known as a centre of peaceful protests.
The transportation restrictions are increasingly seen as tactics to suppress freedom of assembly and expression in Turkey. These measures have raised serious concerns among activists and rights groups about the shrinking space for peaceful public gatherings.
