Blok de Esquerda requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the detention in Turkey for 19 days of a Portuguese citizen on the grounds that “he was apparently going to participate in an LGBTI+ march not sanctioned by the Turkish authorities.”
The case was made public by several media outlets on Thursday and concerns 34-year-old Portuguese citizen Miguel Alvaro, who was arrested by Turkish police on June 25.
“Does the MNE know about this situation? Being notified at the Portuguese Embassy in Turkey by Miguel Alvaro’s family, why didn’t they ever try to contact him? Have any efforts been made to resolve the situation or not?” the blockers ask.
The BE statement says that the Portuguese citizen “was seized by eight police officers who hit him in the ribs and shoulder, spending a total of 13 hours in a police van, without any information about what he was being detained for,” after which he was taken to the police station and finally to Sanliurfa prison, where he was held until July 13.
“Only a week after July 2, he managed to establish telephone contact, telling his father where he was and that he had been arrested. It was at this point that the family, in shock, notified the Portuguese Embassy in Turkey. Now, given all these facts, the report he published is that the embassy never visited him and no help was provided, ”adds B.E.
Blok finds it incomprehensible “why there was no contact or attempt to help” from the embassy, arguing that as soon as it was informed about this situation, it should have acted immediately.
“If everyone knows that Turkey is one of the countries that most attacks human rights, in particular LGBTQIA+, and that there is a Portuguese citizen in this country who was arrested for “appearing to be gay”, this parliamentary group cannot understand why there was no contact or attempt to help.
At BE’s request, “the non-governmental organization Istanbul Pride turned out to be the one that helped Miguel Alvaro get out of prison by flying to Portugal on July 13” and is currently in Brazil.