A number of NGOs gathered under the umbrella of the Positive Living Association (PYD) and held a mass demonstration in İstanbul’s Tünel Square in Beyoğlu to draw attention to troubles faced by AIDS sufferers. Calling on everyone to give up their prejudices against those infected by the HIV virus, the group marked World AIDS Day with art displays and dance and rhythm performances along İstiklal Street. Beyoğlu Mayor Ahmet Misbah Demircan, Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) manager Ela Aktürkoğlu, PYD chairwoman Arzu Kaykı and actress Arzu Yanardağ were also present at the demonstration as well as several doctors and artists.In a statement to the press, PYD head Kaykı said: “The right to be healthy, the right to be treated, the right to receive education, the right to get married and have a child and the right to life are basic human rights. But those living with AIDS are deprived of these rights. What kills them is not the [HIV] virus but this discrimination.”
Aktürkoğlu drew attention to the number of AIDS patients in Turkey and in the world. Noting that there has been a decrease in the number of HIV cases in the world recently, though surprisingly enough HIV cases are on the rise in Turkey, she said 2.7 million people in the world are estimated to have been infected by the virus and that there were nearly 33.5 million people carrying the virus in 2008 while there were 3,500 cases in Turkey in the same year.
