{"id":70813,"date":"2013-07-02T04:02:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T01:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=70813"},"modified":"2014-01-08T12:56:02","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T10:56:02","slug":"turkeys-violent-homophobia-homosexual-conduct-between-consenting-adults-is-legal-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/07\/02\/turkeys-violent-homophobia-homosexual-conduct-between-consenting-adults-is-legal-in-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey\u2019s Violent Homophobia – Homosexual conduct between consenting adults is legal in Turkey,"},"content":{"rendered":"
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by<\/span> John Beck <\/span>

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Thousands in Istanbul peacefully celebrated a gay-pride march yesterday, but LGBT individuals in Turkey often face terrible physical danger. John Beck reports on their struggle.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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For a brief moment, Istanbul\u2019s Taksim Square was transformed yesterday. The riot police, clouds of tear gas, and barricade-building protesters that characterized the past month\u2019s unprecedented unrest<\/span> were gone. Instead, a mass of rainbow flags, garish makeup, and neon clothing and face paint gleamed in the afternoon sunshine ahead of the city\u2019s 10th LGBT pride march.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gay-rights activists at a demonstration near Taksim Square in Istanbul on June 23. (Petr David Josek\/AP)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The atmosphere was festive. Despite that the demonstration was not legally sanctioned and there were frequent anti-government chants, uniformed police were almost nonexistent.<\/strong> Public reaction seemed to be almost overwhelmingly positive, and bystanders applauded the procession as it passed down \u0130stikl\u00e2l Avenue. Attendance, estimated at least 20,000, was among the largest in the march\u2019s history and included three M.P.s from the Republican People\u2019s Party, an opposition group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It was an undeniable success, and organizers were justifiably delighted. But under any other circumstances, things might have been very different. Homosexual conduct between consenting adults is legal in Turkey, but far from accepted. Prejudice is widespread: 84 percent of Turkish people said gays or lesbians were among the groups they would least like living in their area, according to 2011 research conducted as part of the World Values Survey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Intolerance often manifests itself as discrimination, abuse, and brutal violence. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about equality. We have to fight for our right to live,\u201d says Hassan Metehan Ozkan, a founder of the solidarity group LISTAG, which supports families of LGTB individuals in Istanbul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said homosexuality was \u201ca sexual preference\u201d that is \u201ccontrary\u201d to Islam.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Hate crimes against LGBT individuals are higher in Turkey than in any other member of the Council of Europe, advocacy groups say. Gay men and transgender women are at particular risk. At least 30 transgender individuals in Turkey were murdered between January 2008 and December 2012, according to Transgender Europe. The figure is higher than in any other European, Middle Eastern, African, or Asian country for which data are available, although considerably less than the 69 murders which occurred in the U.S. over the same period. \u201cHonor killings\u201d as a result of sexual preference, such as the fatal shooting of Ahmet Yildiz, and the \u201cR.\u00c7.\u201d case, in which a father is currently on trial for the murder of his 17-year-old gay son, have also taken place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Homophobic attitudes start at the very top. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said homosexuality was \u201ca sexual preference\u201d that is \u201ccontrary\u201d to Islam, in remarks reported in local media earlier this year. And Minister for Women and Family Affairs Selma Aliye Kavaf described it as \u201ca biological disorder, a disease,\u201d in a 2010 interview with the H\u00fcrriyet<\/i> daily news.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The national Constitution itself does not offer protection against discrimination on grounds of gender identity or sexual orientation. There is, however, little political will to address this, says Andrew Gardner, a Turkey researcher with Amnesty International: \u201cAt the highest level … there is a complete refusal to recognize that there actually are LGBT rights or to implement nondiscrimination provisions in a way that would protect LGBT individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The justice system is, in many cases, weighed against victims of hate crimes, Ozkan adds. Culprits apprehended in transgender murder cases, for example, sometimes employ a defense of \u201cunjust provocation\u201d and lenient sentencing as a result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The authorities are not just failing to protect LGBT individuals, however. In some cases they are actively responsible for maltreatment. Provisions in the criminal code on exhibitionism and public morality are often used by the police to harass LGBT people, according to the European Commission. Transgender individuals\u2014often least able to hide their identity\u2014have been detained and fined on misdemeanor charges and even faced torture and abuse in custody, says Gardner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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State interference in media coverage of gay and transgender topics means that positive representation is a rarity. \u201cThe only reason LGBT individuals are shown in the press is if they are killed,\u201d says \u0130lker \u00c7akmak, spokesperson and head of communications with Istanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association, pointing to often-lurid and sensational reports of transgender murders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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RT\u00dcK, the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating radio and television content, is heavily involved in censoring content. The cable broadcast of Sex and the City 2,<\/i> for example, was blocked due to its \u201ctwisted and immoral\u201d depiction of a gay wedding. In 2011 the Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB) prohibited Turkish Internet-hosting providers from using the word \u201cgay,\u201d along with 137 other potentially inflammatory words, in domain names and websites, according to Freedom House. TIB has also shut down LGBT Internet forums.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As bad as things are in Turkey\u2014especially in regard to the high numbers of transgender murders\u2014conditions in some of its regional neighbors are far worse. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly one of the best countries [for LGBT rights] in the Middle East and Africa,\u201d says Isays Hossein Alizadeh, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. \u201cBut then standards are really not very high.\u201d\u00a0In four Middle Eastern countries\u2014Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen\u2014same-sex consensual sexual activity between consenting adults is still punishable by death, according to the International Lesbian and Gay Association.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, in Iraq\u2014which does not prohibit homosexuality in its penal code\u2014militia squads have targeted LGBT individuals alongside any other displays of supposedly \u201ceffeminate\u201d behavior, as in the spate of so-called \u201cemo\u201d killings that swept the country in 2012. Homosexuality remains illegal in Kuwait, Syria, and parts of the Palestinian territories, and while not actually unlawful in Jordan, societal and legal discrimination is common. The same is true of Lebanon, where LGBT people have been tortured in police custody, according to Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Things in Turkey, are, however, slowly getting better, Alizadeh adds. Progress was also lent a huge boost by the momentous protests of recent weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During the Gezi Park occupation, minority groups were able to raise their flags in safety, boosting awareness and support for their causes. Those with a well-established history of activism, such as Kurdish, feminist, and LGBT associations, were better organized and experienced with advocacy than their newly established counterparts and played a central role in the movement as a result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More than that, though, many of Istanbul\u2019s inhabitants are now experiencing a taste of the treatment faced by minority groups for years. Banging pots and pans together\u2014a common tool of protesters\u2014is punished using the same laws once employed to harass transgender women, and the censorship tactics employed to suppress discussion of homosexual issues and information on human-rights abuses in Kurdish areas were used to silence reporting on the protests.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is too early to tell whether or not its role in the broader protest movement will make a lasting difference to the LGBT community in Turkey, but there are signs that for some, attitudes have already started to change. The quantity and nature of inquiries to Istanbul LGBTT Solidarity Association, for example, has changed markedly since the Gezi demonstrations began, \u00c7akmak says. \u201cA month ago, the only people who phoned us or sent emails via the website were asking for condoms or hormone shots. Now individuals aged from 17 to 70 are getting in touch to apologize for using homophobic slurs in the past and promising to never do so or allow others to do so again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter<\/span> for updates all day long.<\/p>\n

John Beck is a freelance journalist currently based in Turkey. Follow him on Twitter @JM_Beck.<\/p>\n

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by John Beck Jul 1, 2013 3:48 PM EDT Thousands in Istanbul peacefully celebrated a gay-pride march yesterday, but LGBT individuals in Turkey often face terrible physical danger. John Beck reports on their struggle. For a brief moment, Istanbul\u2019s Taksim Square was transformed yesterday. The riot police, clouds of tear gas, and barricade-building protesters that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":70814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}