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# Turkish students arrested for LGBTQ+ artwork
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/turkish-students-arrested-for-lgbtq-artwork/
- Published: 2021-01-31T17:32:47.000Z
- Updated: 2021-01-31T13:33:24.000Z
- Description: Four students in Turkey have been arrested for creating artwork which depicted rainbow symbols alongside a sacred Islamic site and displaying it at a protest.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Politics, Istanbul, LGBTQ, Turkey

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/bogazici-university-1.jpg)

Boğaziçi University

Four students in **Turkey** have been arrested for creating artwork which depicted rainbow symbols alongside a sacred Islamic site and displaying it at a protest. According to the [**BBC**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55872759?ref=scenemag.co.uk), students at **Boğaziçi University** in **Istanbul** were protesting the government election of Professor **Melih Bulu** as a senior university official. The students argued it contradicted the university’s 158-year-long history of electing its own rectors.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/turkey-protests-1.jpg)

Protests at Boğaziçi University

Amid the protests, four students laid down a piece of artwork at the university which showed the Kaaba (the most sacred site in Islam) alongside LGBTQ+ rainbows. The Istanbul governor’s office said the artwork was an *“ugly attack”* that *“mocked religious beliefs”*. **Süleyman Soylu**, Turkey’s interior minister, called the students ‘deviants’ in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/suleymansoylu/status/1355260314904879108?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1355260314904879108%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk%2F2021%2F01%2F30%2Fturkey-four-students-artwork-arrested-deviants-interior-minister-bogazici-university-kaaba%2F&ref=scenemag.co.uk) which reads: *“Four LGBT deviants, who disrespected the Islamic holy site, the Kaaba, have been detained at Boğaziçi University.”*

The university’s LGBTQ+ society, **Boğaziçi LGBTİ+**,[ called](https://twitter.com/bogaziciLGBTI/status/1355280504342405121?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1355280504342405121%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk%2F2021%2F01%2F30%2Fturkey-four-students-artwork-arrested-deviants-interior-minister-bogazici-university-kaaba%2F&ref=scenemag.co.uk) for the release of the students, saying: *“We stand with our detained friends against those who attack LGBT+ people. We do not accept trustees who target their own students.”* The arrest of the students follows several years of increasing hostility towards Turkey’s LGBTQ+ community, with Istanbul Pride having been banned five years in a row. Although same-sex relations are legal, LGBTQ+ people have reported facing widespread discrimination, harassment and violence.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/turkey-lgbt-1.jpg)