Led by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, thousands of disabled residents took part in the Disability Pride March to demand rights, equality and accessibility. Speaking at the march, Co-Mayor Serra Bucak called for scrutiny and continued struggle to ensure the implementation of a joint manifesto on disabled people’s right to life, stressing that local authorities must follow up on these policies.

Led by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and supported by the municipalities of Sur, Bağlar and Kayapınar, the Disability Pride March was held in Diyarbakır with the participation of disabled people’s civil society organisations, federations, activists and professional chambers from Türkiye and cities across the region, under the slogan “Leave your mark on this pride”. The march was attended by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun, district municipality co-mayors, DEM Party Disability Commission Co-Spokesperson Hatice Betül Çelebi, DBP Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır, DEM Party Provincial Co-Chairs Gülşen Özer and Abbas Şahin, MPs and many disabled residents.

Before the march, Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Serra Bucak delivered a speech.

Co-Mayor Bucak said that district municipalities, the DEM Party Disability Commission, the DEM Party and the Democratic Regions Party had been working towards a rights-based disability policy, and that they had a clear commitment and manifesto on disabled people’s right to life. Stating that they were proud of this comprehensive manifesto, Bucak said they had seen how disabled residents were organising themselves, and that this made them very happy.

The approach of those in power

“We know very well that all governments have ignored and disregarded disabled people; that they have looked at disability not from a rights-based perspective, but through an ableist lens, with the mentality that ‘a sound mind is found in a sound body’; and that they frame all their policies through taking, giving and obedience,” Co-Mayor Bucak said. She added that, in contrast to this approach, the DEM Party had brought a rights-based understanding to society on various occasions, and that they were pleased by this.

Referring to the march held with the participation of activists from Van, İzmir and various parts of Türkiye who see disability as a rights issue, Co-Mayor Bucak said: “We are very happy to honour this Pride March together.”

“We organise because disabled people are disregarded”

Co-Mayor Bucak said that since they were elected in March 2024, disability directorates and departments had been established within municipalities, and dozens of workshops and rights-based gatherings had been held. “Why do we organise? We organise because disabled people are disregarded and because attempts are made to confine them to restricted spaces,” Bucak said, underlining the purpose of these efforts.

“We carried out practical work for accessibility”

Co-Mayor Bucak said the workshop and the manifesto prepared afterwards showed the need to be more active in the field, adding that practical work had been carried out to improve accessibility. “Let us monitor how it is implemented, follow it up and keep it firmly on the agenda of local authorities,” she said.

“We will walk together”

Thanking the participants who came to Diyarbakır, Co-Mayor Bucak said: “We are glad you are here; we are glad that we will walk together for pride and against the ideology of ableism.” Bucak said she hoped the march would serve as a mirror to the struggle for peace and democratisation.

March started in front of the municipality

The march started in front of the Metropolitan Municipality service building and continued to Sümerpark Shared Living Space. Throughout the march, disabled people drew attention to the problems they face, their pursuit of rights and their expectations of equality through sign language, banners and placards.

Placards carried during the march included: “The ableist order will change”, “Any policy that ignores the disability struggle is incomplete”, “End isolation and confinement policies”, “Let society change, let barriers be removed”, “Sign language is our mother tongue”, “Disabled women are not alone”, “White canes are on the streets, but where are the tactile paving surfaces?” and “Not separate cafés, parks and schools, but living together.”

Chants of “A new life is possible for disabled people” and “No accessibility, no equality” were frequently heard as thousands marched with applause and zılgıt.

Open platform set up

Following the march, disabled residents spoke at an open platform set up in Sümerpark, expressing the problems they face and their demands for rights and equality in both Turkish and Kurdish.

The forum included calls to make cities accessible, ensure equal access to public services, end discrimination in employment, secure equality in education and healthcare, enable disabled people to take a more active role in decision-making processes, and implement rights-based policies.

Sign language and audio description were used during the speeches at the forum.

“Our butterfly is incomplete”

DEM Party Disability Commission Co-Spokesperson Hatice Betül Çelebi thanked everyone who contributed to the march and said: “We use the symbol of the butterfly, but our butterfly is incomplete. The butterfly symbolises freedom, but this butterfly is incomplete because it is hidden, it masks itself. Like all groups subjected to discrimination in this society, disabled people are forced to hide themselves in order to avoid violence. They isolate themselves at home. They are exposed to the most painful forms of violence. Our young friends who shut themselves indoors out of shame are here; we could have been more crowded. I call out from here: Come outside, there is a life outside. We will walk these roads with love, despite every kind of barrier.”

Elif Kaya from the Women’s Movement Against Ableism said ableism was an ideology of power and that it fuelled gender inequality.