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State Department condemns Turkey's anti-LGBT rhetoric against protesters

Turkey's president and other officials have used inflammatory anti-gay rhetoric to describe the student-led protests in Istanbul.
A woman gestures as Turkish Police detain activists supporting Bogazici University students protesting against the appointment by the Turkish government of a new rector in Ankara on February 2, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The new US administration is concerned by the treatment of student protesters in Turkey and condemns the anti-LGBT rhetoric sparked by the ongoing demonstrations, the State Department said on Wednesday. 

Students at Istanbul’s Bogazici University have been protesting since last month, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed a loyalist with links to his ruling Justice and Development Party to serve as the prestigious university’s rector. The clashes with police escalated last week after protesters hung a poster on the campus that depicted the holy Kaaba building in Mecca with rainbow flags. 

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