On February 6, 2023, two earthquakes hit Kahramanmaraş with a few hours apart. These earthquakes also affected Diyarbakir, Malatya, Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Osmaniye, Kilis, Adana, and Hatay.
Before the two earthquakes, many LGBTI+ people in Diyarbakir had been trying to go on with their lives, subjected to discrimination and violence. These conditions were either mitigated or strengthened by various social factors such as class, age, gender, gender expression, education, and levels of support from friends, non-governmental organizations/political formations and family.
In order to determine whether any special measures have been taken by the state regarding LGBTI+ people, we, as bakad and Keskesor Amed LGBTI+ Group, decided to focus on temporary shelters. We have prepared two interview forms for this. One of these interview forms included questions for the officials and responsible persons in temporary shelters, and the other included questions for LGBTI+ people in Diyarbakir who experienced the two earthquakes. The first interview form was used in the field on February 10 and 11, 2023. Interviews with LGBTI+ people were carried out by phone calls and visits to homes/shelters throughout February.
