Turkey Jails Portuguese Man For ‘Looking Gay’

A man has claimed that he was arrested and jailed in Turkey for 20 days because he “looked gay”.  On June 25, Portuguese national Miguel Alvaro was holidaying in Istanbul and had plans to meet up with a friend for lunch. Alvaro (34) asked some police officers for directions and was surrounded and arrested immediately. 

An LGBTQI Pride parade was occurring nearby when he asked for directions, which Alvaro believes was the reason for the heavy police presence and his arrest. 

Alvaro identifies as gay and asserted that one of the officers ordered his immediate arrest. “They grabbed my arms and I tried to free myself. One of them hit me in the ribs, they pushed me against a van, they hit me on the shoulder, which started to bleed”, he told Portuguese news outlet P3. 

Arrested, Detained

Alvaro was held in the police van for 13 hours and was only spoken to after five hours where he was told to “shut up and be quiet” by one of the officers. He alleges that the officers had detained him because of his appearance. 

“They thought I would participate in an unauthorised LGBTI+ march that was going to take place nearby because I looked gay. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

According to  Alvaro, the officers were under instructions to apprehend a specific number of individuals in connection with the parade, and he was one of the victims who was subjected to being arrested. 

Following the 13 hours in the van, Alvaro was moved to an immigration detention centre where he claimed horrific prison conditions included maggots crawling on his sheets, a lack of food and water, and inmates threatening to attack him for his sexuality. 

Istanbul Pride Banned Since 2015

During the ordeal, Alvaro said he was denied access to his phone for multiple days. In early July, he was granted permission to make a phone call, and he reached out to his father, who sought the aid of the Portuguese Embassy to secure his release. 

Alvaro expressed that he had no alternative but to wear the same outfit he had on during the time of his arrest and detainment, which was a short crop top.  Alvaro was freed 20 days after his arrest, on July 12. 

After his release, Alvaro told Pink News he was  “disappointed, shattered and mentally drained, but relieved to be going somewhere safe”. 

Although homosexuality is decriminalised in Turkey, LGBTQI individuals are banned from military service and there is no anti-discrimination law to protect LGBTQI persons from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Istanbul Pride march has been banned since 2015, with authorities citing concerns over security and public order as the reason behind their decision. Additionally, in June this year, at least 149 people were detained after Pride celebrations. Demonstrators were celebrating LGBT Pride despite the country’s ban on all Pride events.

According to the 2022 ILGA ranking of LGBTQ rights protections in 49 European countries, Turkey is ranked 45th. 

Alvaro has warned travellers about visiting Turkey following the horrific incident.  “Right now, I’m in a horrible psychological state, I’m very afraid of the consequences in the future,” Alvaro told P3.  “I can’t believe this happened to me. I pray for justice to be done”, he said.