LGBTQIA+ students tell their stories of torture

Police records revealed the torture against the students brutally detained during a pride march organized by students at the Middle East Technical University students in Ankara last June.

In their testimonies, 37 students described how they were attacked by riot police who broke up the march and used batons, plastic bullets and pepper spray to disperse and detain the students.

One of the detained students, identified by his initials as E.T., said three police officers knocked him down without warning and one of them sprayed pepper spray directly in his face.

She said she was handcuffed from behind in the police vehicle and the officers said, "Don't worry, you're going to feel worse. I hope you get more mentally tired" as they carried her to the police station.

After waiting in the police vehicle for seven hours without eating anything, E.T. stated that a police officer threatened to touch her private parts, despite her warning that the police could only conduct a general search, and later harassed her by touching her body.

Another student, identified as R.A., said she was grounded, kicked several times and police refused to release her even though she said she could not breathe.

“You should have thought about that before you came here," the police officer said, hitting her several times on the head with his radio transmitter and pulling her hair.

Have you seen state violence now?" a police officer asked her.

Another student, A.Y., said a police officer hit him on the head and body after putting him in the back seat of the police bus. The other police officers could barely stop him.

The investigation into the "METU Pride Parade" launched by the Ankara Prosecutor General's Office is still ongoing.