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Abstract

Against the background of growing securitization in response to the migration crisis erupted after the Syrian War, this article analyses the non-profit partnership Kurdish queer activists build with the queer refugees, in contrast to the Northern profit-based colonialist culture of solidarity. While Northern humanitarian institutions often require fitting the essentialist Western standards in terms of gender and sexuality to offer help, Kurdish queer activism seeks instead to restore the dignity and self-worth of queer refugees, providing a safe space to socialize, collaborate and exchange shared experiences. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the summers of 2019 and 2023, the article explores how Kurdish queer activism reject Northern identity-based activism and instead establish partnership with queer refugees as a result of suffering from the same circumstances themselves. Situated at the intersection of Kurdishness and queerness, they open themselves a queer in-between field, struggling against the racism of the broader LGBTQ+ movement in Turkey and the homophobia within the Kurdish movement.

Keywords

transnational activism Global South Kurdish studies queer refugees

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Kurdish queer activism in migration

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