NEWS

On 6 July at noon, the police forced protestors, who for the last two weeks had taken to the streets to voice their opposition to the electricity price rise, out of Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan.

Protests against an electricity price rise appear to have lost momentum: The government’s suspension of the price rise for “re-examination” as well as differences in opinion and indecision among protestors have played their part.

The procedure of investigating the ‘race code’ of students in state records for students applying to non-Muslim schools is to be abolished. A public mandate has been prepared to end the procedure that received a very strong reaction. According to the public mandate that will be published in the Official Gazette in the coming days, headmasters will have the authority over school registrations. Schools will now also have the right to recommend teachers of cultural courses in Turkish to the Ministry of National Education.

Nvard Mafaryan, Pink Armenia Project Coordinator, travelled from Armenia to Istanbul to take part in the panel titled “LGBTI Struggle in Neighbouring Armenia” organized on the occasion of the 23rd LGBTI Pride Week, and spoke to AGOS about the LGBTI community in Armenia that is trying to protect its existence against the homophobia of the State and media, and the intersections between the rights’ struggles in Armenia and Turkey. The conversation then inevitably led to the continuing protests in Yerevan.

Last night, police attacked the group that had resisted in Yerevan’s Freedom Square protesting against an electricity price rise.

The victory YPG and Burkan al-Furat won in the Tell Abyad region of Syria has become a topic of broad debate both because of the refuge influx into Turkey, and the heavy defeat suffered by ISIS. We talked with HDP Mardin MP Mithat Sancar, who follows developments in the region closely, about the importance of saving Tell Abyad from ISIS, and the accusations directed at YPG.

The tension in Diyarbakır has increased once again following first the bombings at a HDP rally, and then the murder of 4 people. Helsinki Citizens Assembly Member Nalan Erkem and Mazlumder Diyarbakır Board Member Reha Ruhavioğlu, who were in the commission that visited the city for observations, have recounted the situation in the city. According to eyewitnesses, a jihadist streak has become more prominent in the region for months, and although everyone including the police has been aware of this, no one has acted to prevent the events.

Police violence once again arrives on the silver screen with the documentary ‘Article 16: Right to Life’. Co-director Yılmaz Kılıç says, “We did not shoot this documentary, it’s all the work of the police. All we did was to transmit their work.”

The beginning of the 6th Trans Pride Week, which will conclude with a rally in Taksim on June 21 was announced yesterday at a press conference. Speaking at the press conference, Istanbul LGBTI activists said, “We need a law against hate and violence”. The 23rd Istanbul LGBTI Pride Week will begin next Monday.

We received an e-mail the other day: “Hi, it’s Lobna. A lot of people have called me for interviews, but I want to talk to AGOS as well.” So, computers were switched on in Berlin and Istanbul; and we talked about the two years that have passed since the police shot Lobna with a gas cannister during the Gezi resistance, the election results and her roots.