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Pro-Erdogan LGBT individuals get organized in Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidential campaign got support from unlikely quarters when Islamic-leaning LGBT individuals raised the rainbow flag at a rally in Istanbul.
Masked women face each other  during a gay pride parade on Istiklal Street, Istanbul's main shopping corridor, on June 29, 2014, as part of the Trans Pride Week 2014 organized by Istanbul's 'Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites and Transsexuals' (LGBTT) solidarity organization. AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE        (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Aug. 3 rally in Istanbul marked a first for the country: LGBT supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) waved the rainbow flag at the rally in a show of support for Erdogan’s presidential bid.

The group, using the Twitter handle Aklgbti, shared pictures from the rally with the following message: “The homosexuals stand with Tayyip Erdogan. We are at the rallies, we are everywhere — get used to it.” A member of the group tweeted, “I waved the rainbow flag in the front rows. Our prime minister must have seen it.”

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