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- Ελληνικά
A storm of reactions in the occupied territories has caused a two-day conference organized by the Turkish Cypriot leadership in cooperation with the Turkish government. At the two-day conference, which focused on the modern T/C family, the speakers delivered conservative messages ideologically aligned with the Turkish government's line, which provoked the reaction of large sections of the T/C public opinion.
The two-day conference entitled "Family Day" was organized under the auspices of the wife of the T/C leader, Siber Tatar and with the support of the T/C leadership, the EBKAF and the Turkish government. The proceedings of the two-day event took place in a well-known hotel-casino in occupied Kyrenia.
Speaking from the podium of the event, Ersin Tatar said that "one of the most important factors in the transition of the Turkish Cypriot community to the modern era has been the solid foundation of the family".
Turkey's "ambassador" Ali Murat Basteri referred to the importance of the family in Turkish society and history.
At the two-day conference, speeches and presentations were made by technocrats, scientists and speakers known for their conservative views from the Turkish Cypriot community and Turkey. Photos depicting memorabilia and documents of the two-day event are circulating on social media, which contain, of conservative standards, sayings and statements of historical personalities about the family.
The reactions
The two-day event provoked a strong reaction from T/C organisations, political parties, politicians and activists.
The T/C association "Kuir Cyprus" called for a "judicial investigation" into the two-day event on the grounds that it promoted hate speech against LGBTQ+ people.
The "mayor" of occupied Nicosia, Mehmet Harmanji, in a statement expressed concern that some circles are attempting to "repair" characteristics of T/Cs, which they approach as "problematic".
The T/C Community Democracy Party (CDP), in a statement, focused on the conservative worldview of the organizers and said that such developments may cause irreparable damage to the T/C social fabric.
The T/C Independence Road Party (IDP) expressed its opposition to the attempt of the T/C leadership to impose conservative social policies on T/Cs.
Finally, the T/C Left Movement (AK) pointed out that "We are not going to be imprisoned in unhappy marriages in (supposedly) ideal families imposed on us."
Finally, the T/C Left Movement (AK) pointed out that "We are not going to be imprisoned in unhappy marriages in (supposedly) ideal families imposed on us.
Women's lives more precious than your institution, the presidency is told about the family workshop
The Left Movement and the KUİR LGBTI association criticized the "Family Workshop" criticized the "presidency" for the way it was carried out.
As reported from the occupied territories, a statement by the Left Movement's gender equality secretary Semen Saigoun said that the first-of-its-kind workshop under the auspices of the "presidency", the support of the EBKAF and the participation of experts from Turkey's Ministry of Family Affairs as well, was aimed at passing the formation of the institution of the family and imposing other things, questioning the institution itself.
We must stand against the impositions, Saigoun said, criticizing the policy against women in Turkey. "The approach for women is to remain the marriage and save it no matter what happens, no matter what she lives. We know this process and we see what is coming and we are already rejecting it."
The lives of us women, she continued, are much more valuable than your family institution. "You cannot shape us by accepting the heterosexual nuclear family as the norm. We do not accept any relationship or lifestyle as the only truth. We also do not accept the definition of family as a heterosexual, married couple. We will not be locked into unhappy marriages in the ideal family you impose. We will defend the freedom of women. We will say that love is love. There is life outside marriage and we will support that life and what we live."
The KUİR association of LGBTI people, in its own statement, says that hate speech was used in this "Family Workshop" against lesbian, gay, transgender, intersex people and calls for an investigation to be launched into what was said and done in the workshop.
It is unacceptable, it adds, that the "presidency" organised and sponsored a workshop which targeted LGBTI people and organised an event with a narrative against women and references that glorify the heteronormative family structure.
The association called for a "police" investigation into the workshop, considering as unacceptable the legalization of violence against women and hate speech against LGBTI people in the context of the implementation of international conventions to which the pseudo-state is a party as well as under the "Law" on Gender Equality and the "Criminal Code".
He considers that both the "presidency" and those "institutions" that participated in this workshop should be publicly accountable.
Source: CNA
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