Gay Turkey News & Reports 2007-08

Buse Kilickaya who is a member of Pink Life Association issued a press statement with supports from other LGBT organizations including Kaos GL and Lambda Istanbul to protest the latest violent attacks against the transgender community in Ankara.

On January 16, 2007, some people who were in a green Ford Taurus attacked the transgender people who were walking down on Kolej and Baglar Streets of Ankara. Four transgenders were injured seriously.This wasn’t the first time we were attacked. In April 2006, in Eryaman district of Ankara, we were systematically targeted. Most of the transgender people were injured and were forced to move out. The same car, green Taurus, was present during those attacks as well. In the last 2 weeks similar incidents occurred in other districts of Ankara as well.

The question that we should ask is how these attackers can be so out of control. As the citizens of Turkey, we also have the right to live free.The governmental institutions that are responsible to protect us do not do anything to help us although we provided the security officials the plate number of the cars and detailed descriptions of the attackers. We know that pretending not to see the crime is being a part of that crime.

For this reason we are warning the officials: You are committing crimes! All the chances for us to study, work or live like the remaining of the society is taken away from us therefore we are forced to become sexworkers. As long as you dont take away the barriers built for us we will continue to face violence and discrimination and you will be a part of this crime. Transgender rights are human rights. Law is for everyone. Everybody should be entitled to have equal rights and not face discrimination based on ethnic origin, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation or sexual identity. We will continue to fight to gain our basic rights to live like human beings.Transgender rights are human rights. We invite everyone who believes inhuman rights to support us.

Pink Lifes Email: pembehayat@pembehayat.org

History Of Turkish Transgender Community: Turkeys transgender people have become more visible especially starting from 1990s. Under the military regime in the early 1980s, any form ofsocial deviance was severely repressed and sexual deviance, or flouting norms for gendered conduct, was seen as particularly dangerous. Sex-reassignment surgery was banned in Turkey, and when Bulent Ersoy, a celebrated singer, obtained an operation abroad, her music was also prohibited. After a long legal struggle, in 1988 the 29th clause of theTurkish Civil Code was finally amended, to state that in cases where there has been a change of sex after birth, documented by a report from a committee of medical experts, the necessary amendments are made to the birth certificate.

Male-to-female postoperative transgender people could obtain the pink card certifying their new gender.Yet many transgender people did not want the surgery; others could not afford it. The lack of a state ID corresponding to their apparent gender left them in a legal limbo. Prejudice continued to be enormous. InTurkey, newspaper articles routinely paint transgender people not as victims of violence, but as dangerous aggressors. Denied employment, most transgender people practice sex work which redoubles the prejudice against them.Memories of repression run long.

In the months before the 1996 United Nations Human Settlements Program (Habitat) conference was to be held in Istanbul, authorities evidently decided on further steps to clean up the city. A community of dozens of transgender people had grown up in Ulker Street, in the Cihangir district of the city. One police officer, Suleyman Ulusoy, determined to drive them from the area. Over months, transvestites were arrested on the street and subjected to brutal torture. Even after the community was broken up, persecution of transvestites in central Istanbul continued unabated.

Since 1996, many transgender people have been driven from the heart of major cities, the communities they formed disbanded. But the abuses go on. Transgender people still tell stories of torture and sexual abuse at the hands of police. In Turkey, prostitution in licensed brothels is legal, but the Penal Code bars unlicensed sex work. Only women are allowed to work in the licensed brothels and few if any post-operative transgender people, even with the pink card, have gained that right; hence transgender sex workers are driven onto the street, at the mercy of the police. There, they are subject to arbitrary arrest, prohibitive fines,and repressive regimes of medical testing: a steady round of humiliations.

Turkish LGBT Organizations: There are (3) legally registered LGBT organizations that gained non-governmental organization status by the Turkish government: Kaos GL in the city Ankara, Rainbow Association in the city of Bursa and Pink Life in the city of Ankara. Lambda Istanbulwhich is the most vocal LGBT organization in Istanbul is still awaiting for its petition. Kaos GL, which was founded in 1994, finally applied to Interior Ministry and attained legal status in July 2006 but it faced the risk of closure. An official demand to ban Turkey’s first LGBT rights association was rejected by a prosecutor on October 12, 2005, allowing the KAOS Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association to continue to operate.

On March 3, 2006 Rainbow Solidarity and Cultural Association for Transgenders, Gays and Lesbians was established in the city of Bursa, becoming the second legally registered LGBT organization in Turkey. An official demand to ban this LGBT rights association in the city of Bursa was rejected by a prosecutor on October 6, 2006, allowing the Rainbow Solidarity and Cultural Association to continue to operate.Turkey’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transsexual Solidarity Association formally founded the Pink Life support association in capital Ankara on June 30, 2006 in wake of a growing number of attacks and discrimination targeting the country’s transgendered community. However it faced the risk of closure. But the official demand to ban Pink Life was rejected by a prosecutor Kursat Kayral on November 2, 2006, allowing the association to continue to operate.

Turkish LGBT Community’s Demand For Transgender Community: Kaos GL and Pink Life organizations in Ankara as well as Lambda Istanbul in Istanbul have numerously called on the government to improve the lives of the Turkish transgender community including: Enacting legislation providing protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Eliminating vague and sweeping laws against indecency,exhibitionism, and offenses against public morality, which can be used to harass or persecute people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity especially on transgendered people. Developing programs, in cooperation with transgender communities, to open employment possibilities outside sex work for transgender people desiring it.

Training all criminal justice system officials on principles of human rights and non-discrimination, including those relating to sexual orientation and gender identity; develop these training programs incooperation with civil society groups, including lesbians, gays,bisexuals, transgender people and sex workers. Ending restrictive requirements for sex reassignment surgery and subsequent change of legal gender, particularly the requirement that person be sterilized before sex reassignment surgery can take place. Eliminating repressive regulations allowing involuntary registration and medical testing of sex workers. Enacting standards for therapeutic interventions with transgender people, including sex reassignment surgery, in consultation with transgender people.

Kaos GL is a LGBT organization and a legally registered non-governmental organization that publishes a bi-monthly magazine to completely cover Turkey. Please refer any questions to: news@kaosgl.com and refer to theweb site for information: http://news.kaosgl.com/

www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=69244

6 April 2007

Subject: Turkey’s first gay and lesbians students club established at Bilgi University
From: news@kaosgl.com
To: GlobalGayz.com

2
Turkey’s first gay and lesbians students club established at Bilgi University April 6, 2007 By Safak Timur – Turkish Daily News

“In order to block homophobia and liberalize lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) by setting a wider area for them within campus borders,” around 15 students came together and founded Bilgi Gokkusagi Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students club in Istanbul’s Bilgi University a couple of weeks ago. They Applied to the university administration officially and were approved. Still giving interviews to mainstream media, the Bilgi Gokkusagi LGBT Club, Turkey’s first official students club on LGBTs, prefers to take a formal identity rather than moving unofficially, aiming to make LGBTs more visible.

“Friends found [other] friends. … We asked ourselves: why don’t we found a club?” Bilgi Gokkusagi volunteer Izlem Aybasti said. “There were people conscious of organized struggle.” Aybasti who is also among the founders of the club was highly satisfied with the attitude of the university administration towards the club. They were proud of the club volunteers when Bilgi Gokkusagi was on a mainstream daily last week, she said. The university administration is liberal and democratic, according to Aybasti. They provide space for any thought.

Bilgi Gokkusagi is a work of five months, but it is functioning as an official students club for three weeks. The club is open to anyone who wants to get rid of his or her homophobia. They organize regular meetings per week. The meetings are now just to meet with more students, but in the future they were planned to be a platform for discussion.

Questioning gender roles, for any gender: Aybasti consciously avoided using the word “homosexual,” saying that the concept was used in the 19th century to imply a disease that needed treatment. She proposed the abbreviation LGBT, which consists of the first letters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, as she was diving into a deep conversation about the gender roles and the dominant character of heterosexism in the world. “We are living in a world that you are accepted as a heterosexual unless you open yourself up,” she noted.

Discussing heterosexism, homophobia, and gender roles as critical for both LGBTs and heterosexuals, Aybast? said, “We want to drive people to question … drive both LGBTs and heterosexuals. ”Homophobia is not only the problem of heterosexuals she added. It is not right to expect LGBTs to go beyond their homophobias as they live in this heterosexist world too, Aybast? said. “They struggle with fear and shame as they realized that they are not heterosexual, they think that they are not normal or this is a disease,” she said. That’s why Bilgi Gokkusagi plans to collaborate with the Psychological Consultant Unit of the university to support LGBTs.

Among the other plans of Bilgi Gokkusagi there is a fanzine, and they are planning to prepare it in the university canteen, to draw more attention. Panels, screening films and joint workshops with other clubs are other plans of Bilgi Gokkusagi for the future. There will also be posters to show people something about LGBTs that they have never seen before. Aybasti does not think that Turkey is a more difficult country for LGBTs. The struggle started later than the European countries, she said, so they have more acquired rights. “Heterosexism is dominant everywhere,” she commented.

Turkish Daily News
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70201

From: news@kaosgl.com
To: GlobalGayz.com

10 April 2007

3
Turkey’s gay-lesbians on their way to be recognized April 9, 2007

by Safak Timur – Turkish Daily News
Generations in Turkey grew up with the fabulous voice and around 200 compositions of the classical Turkish music performer Zeki Muren, who dared to sing with a man’s body in women’s clothes and make-up in 1950’s Turkey. Turks called their first Golden Record awarded artist the ‘sun of art’, never openly referring to him as ‘gay’ but rather as ‘extraordinary.’ Muren was not the only one with different sexual tendencies and was followed by Bulent Ersoy, whose approved talent in the same art competed from time to time with her transsexual identity. The children of this country grew up unaware of the existence of gays and lesbians, but they were condemned by their parents -who rarely talk about sex- for not enjoying Ersoy or Muren’s music. Just until the development of Turkey’s own gay-lesbian-transgender movement, ‘extraordinary’ sexual tendencies continued to be lived behind four walls, as reflected in Ersoy’s choice to call the ban on her for taking stage because of her transsexual identity after 1980 military coup as ‘the internal affairs of our country’, in an interview abroad.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement in Turkey accelerated by the 1990s. Today, it has reached to a level that gay and lesbian university students can apply for an official student club. The movement itself prefers to use the abbreviation LGBT, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; instead of ‘homosexual’, due to its negative connotation as a disease rather than a sexual tendency. Although Turkey’s LBGT activists generally emphasize that it is the patriarchal system behind sexual discrimination, which is found worldwide, they mainly acknowledge that Turkey stands at the beginning of the road to gain LGBT rights, with a need to fight more strongly against sexual discrimination than their counterparts in the West. In the West, the way is more open in the struggle against homophobia and making society more conscious, as they have gained legal rights, said Burcu Ersoy, the 27 year old KAOS Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Organization (KAOS GL) activist from Ankara, as she compared the LGBT movement in the West to Turkey. “We are continuing in this way too,” she said.

The laws are important to transform the society, 26 year old LAMBDA Istanbul Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Transsexual Solidarity Organization volunteer Sinan commented. But the laws alone cannot eliminate homophobia and transphobia, another LAMBDA Istanbul activist Bawer added. “What is critical is to break the prejudices,” he said. The first and only gay lesbian magazine in Turkey: KAOS GL, one among several LGBT organizations in Turkey, publicized its struggle against homophobia in 1994 with Turkey’s first and only gay-lesbian magazine KAOS GL. Starting its life through a photocopy machine, KAOS GL magazine has continued to survive for 11 years as a ground for Turkey’s LGBTs to say their own words.

“Those 16 pages, copied in a photocopy machine will be remembered as a turning point in the lives of those women and men, who will take a shelter under the love of their own gender and stand with this love even a hundred years later,” current columnist in daily Radikal Yýldýrým Turker wrote about KAOS GL magazine in the 66th issue of the magazine Express in 1995. The 28th issue of KAOS GL magazine which criticized pornography was recalled with the accusation of obscene publication, and the court decided that the issue had to be sold in a plastic bag and its sale to minors under 18 was to be prohibited. The case is now in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Burcu Ersoy said, because of their appeal for the court’s reasoning to put the issue in plastic bags. KAOS GL is based in Ankara and has 50 members officially. But the real number of volunteers is greatly above that number, as many decline to disclose that they work with us, Ersoy said. Izmir also has a branch of KAOS GL. The organization stands out with its legal struggle for LGBT rights. From opposing sexually discriminating court decisions to proposing to add ‘discrimination of sexual tendency’ next to ‘gender discrimination’ in the criminal code, KAOS GL struggles to prevent hate crimes against LGBTs.

Leaping over barriers, inside and out: LAMBDA Istanbul activists declined to give their surnames, worrying about effects of media exposure; although they posed to the cameras after learning that the TDN is a daily in English. The media, as the fourth estate, can unfortunately also become a destructive force for LGBTs, by hitting on sexual prejudices in the society consciously or unconsciously. Some media reports abusing LGBTs by using them as material for entertainment or humiliation was among the activists’ main complaints, but they also acknowledged respectful reports. The story of Turkey’s first gay-lesbian hotel in Mediterranean Fethiye is an example. The hotel was opened two years ago and forced to be closed down last year, the former manager Turgay told, as it became known through reports in a number of mainstream dailies and journals. The reports were reasonable, he said, but problems started shortly after. The military police came to the hotel several times at night, Turgay said and finally he was told that the military police could not provide security there. They started to wake up with fire shots after that, he claimed, leading to the closure of the hotel due to a small problem in the deed of the property. The management license of the hotel was taken away from the property owner, Turgay concluded and the story of the first gay-lesbian hotel ended, despite the possibility of high profits by bringing a nonexistent facility into the Turkish tourism sector. Turgay now manages a gay café in Istanbul’s Beyoðlu.

No choice but prostitution: Transsexuals and transvestites feel the oppression much more than gays, lesbians and bisexuals LAMBDA Istanbul activists said, since they are more visible. But they are not aware of the rights they have, leading to a high degree of abuse and discrimination transgender Ebru said, recounting the activities of LAMBDA Istanbul. LAMBDA Istanbul organizes education seminars for LGBTs to inform them about their rights when exposed to violence. There are several working groups under LAMBDA Istanbul, including the transvestite and transsexual working group.

“There are transphobic friends in LAMBDA, and this makes us sad,” Ebru said, as she explained their need to form a separate working group. The struggle of transvestites and transsexuals focusing on legal issues and the right to work is now a main concern. “They do not leave us any choice but prostitution,” 46 year old Ebru said. She was working in Zonguldak municipality before she acknowledged her transgender identity. “They fired me as soon as they learned,” she said. The oppression from police forces is overwhelming, Ebru said. They raid homes of transvestites and transsexuals and collect the condoms that the ministry of health distributed as evidence, she astoundingly added, “What could these people do, steal?” LAMBDA Istanbul first came together to organize the Gays Pride Week in Turkey in 1993. Not giving up, the volunteers continued to meet for 9 years and became officially registered last year The aim of LAMBDA Istanbul is to provide more visibility for LGBTs, said Didar, from the media group of LAMBDA Istanbul.

“We exist and we are everywhere. The main idea behind getting organized is to feel that we are not alone,” LAMBDA Istanbul activists said. “You are neither alone, nor wrong,” Sinan reminded the slogan of the organization. Double discrimination against lesbian women: Gender roles make things more complicated for lesbians and women transgenders. Women are already regarded as pretty much nonexistent, but it is a double discrimination for lesbians, KAOS GL volunteer Burcu Ersoy said. Gay women have different problems, she commented, and they took the back seat in the LGBT struggle in comparison to male gays. They are even forced to get married, Ersoy added.

The typical role for lesbians was to be a part of sexual fantasies or they were approved for envying to be a male, a more supreme being, transgender Sinan said, of course unless you stay behind the definite limits. Having lived in the United States for a while, Sinan said he faced lots of problems in the U.S. too. “There are hate crimes there too,” he added.
—
Kaos GL is a LGBT organization and a legally registered non-governmental organization that publishes a bi-monthly magazine to completely cover Turkey. Please refer any questions to: news@kaosgl.com and refer to the web site for information: http://news.kaosgl.com/

The Associated Press
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/02/europe/EU-GEN-Turkey-Gay-Life.php?page=2

May 2, 2007

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Despite Turkey’s reforms, gay community says it lacks legal protections

In the 1980s and 1990s, Turkish police routinely raided gay bars, detained transvestites, and banned homosexual conferences and festivals. Next month, in a sign of how the state has loosened up, gay activists will hold forums on several university campuses to discuss their rights and the discrimination they still face. Gays in Turkey say they lack legal protections and face social stigma in a Muslim nation with a secular tradition of government that has implemented broad reforms in its bid to join the European Union but remains heavily influenced by conservative and religious values. For the most part, they face less pressure than in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries where Islamic codes are enforced with more rigor.

However, Turkey’s homosexuals are jostling for more rights in a crowded field. The historical feud between Turks and Armenians, as well as the concerns of ethnic Kurds and minority Christians, attract more international attention and pressure for change on the Turkish government.

The issue that got the magazine in trouble showed two images of men in explicit sexual poses, beside an article that editors described as an analysis of issues relating to pornography. The magazine first published in 1994, and became legal when it secured a license five years later. It comes out every two months, and has a circulation of up to 1,000. In recent years, Turkey reworked its penal code to bring it into line with European standards. The new version does not specifically ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, although the issue was discussed at the draft stage.

Justice Ministry officials had said that laws barring discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion and political views were enough to protect its citizens. "There are some ‘hate crime’ articles in the criminal code, but they are not used appropriately," said Levent Korkut, head of Amnesty International’s operations in Turkey. "Impunity is a problem in this area." He noted that even some Turks who describe themselves as liberals say: "We don’t want to protect these people.’"

Gay sex is not a crime in Turkey, and some clubs and cinemas in big cities openly cater to homosexuals. Gay and lesbian societies exist at several universities. But the vast majority of homosexuals remain discreet in a country where liberal views have yet to make inroads in rural areas and many urban settings. Municipalities have some leeway to introduce laws safeguarding "morality," which gay activists view as a potential threat to their freedom. Some gays, notably poet Murathan Mungan and the late singer Zeki Muren, achieved celebrity status and openly acknowledged their sexual orientation. Similarly, historians and novelists have referred to a degree of tolerance for gay sex among some sectors of the elite during the Ottoman Empire centuries ago.

Yet, for many, being homosexual is an exercise in deception. One gay man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was distraught years ago because high school classmates kept calling him "ibne," a derogatory word for gay in Turkish. The man, now a university student, said he avoids physical contact with his boyfriend when they are in public, and passes him off as a close friend. He said he is often mocked if he wears an article of clothing that people think is feminine. Unable to find regular jobs, many transvestites and transsexuals work as prostitutes, an often dangerous profession that has led to the murders of some at the hands of clients.

Some deadly "hate crimes" were never publicized because police did not reveal the sexual orientation of the victims, according to gay activists. In some cases, they said, gays who were harassed or physically harmed because of their orientation did not report the incident or go to court because they wanted to avoid scrutiny. The European Union has funded gay groups in Turkey, which sometimes coordinate with the Turkish Ministry of Health and other government agencies. Kaos GL has links to Lambda Istanbul, a gay group in Turkey’s biggest city, and will host an "international anti-homophobia" meeting on university campuses in Ankara next month.

"We want to share and learn the experiences of all gays and lesbians who struggle against homophobia in the Middle East, Balkans, Europe and the other parts of the world," the group said in a statement. It has invited international speakers, including journalists and European lawmakers who will discuss gay issues in their own countries. The Kaos GL magazine paid tribute to Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist who was allegedly slain by extremist nationalists in January, by printing a somber image of him on the back cover of a recent issue. "Those people who murdered Hrant Dink do not like us either," Erol said.

yazberlin.de
http://www.yazberlin.de/englisch/index.html

5
From: YazBerlin

Turkish Lesbian, gays, bisexuals and Transsexuals/Transgender are arranging this summer for the first time a meeting which will be arranged every year from now on. This year “YazBerlin” (SummerBerlin) will be from June 18th – June 22nd in the association rooms of GLADT. We expect participants from all around Germany and Europe (including Turkey ).

All information about the meeting (including this years program and the signing form) are available on YazBerlins self made website: www.yazberlin.de (Turkish, German, English). For any other question you can contact the YazBerlin Team from Monday –Thursday: 030/26 55 66 33 Or any time: yazberlin@gladt.de. We would be very happy if many people could participate in the meeting between the Motz Street festival and the Berlin CSD. So we greatly appreciate if you send this email to other interested people.

Ersan
For GLADT – YazBerlin Team

Turkish Daily News
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=73099

May 16, 2007

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“Mom! I’m homosexual” book supported by the World Bank

Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Organization (Kaos GL) has published a book titled “Stories from My Dearest Family: Mom! Dad! I’m homosexual” with the support of World Bank. The book, which was prepared for the Mothers’ Day, is based on the experiences of homosexuals — both who have discussed their sexuality openly with their families and those who have not. “Mothers’ Day has always been seen as an event for heterosexual families, but homosexuals have parents, too,” said Ali Erol, one of the founders of Kaos GL. “We aim to make peace between families and homosexuals.” According to Erol, the book aims to make parents ask themselves if their children could come out in case they were homosexual. The World Bank donated $5,000 to Kaos GL last year for the protection and promotion of marginal groups. The funds covered half of the book’s costs. Second agreement with World Bank on a project on discrimination in universities is reportedly on the way.

Turkish Daily News
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=73527

May 18, 2007

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Int’l meeting against homophobia under way

Ankara – Turkish Daily News
A two-day international meeting against homophobia kicked off yesterday in the Turkish capital, with most speakers focusing on the legal vacuum in safeguarding the rights of homosexuals in Turkey and abroad. Zehra Kabasakal, expert on political science and women studies, discussed the issue in the context of international human rights, complaining that the United Nations is lacking a universal charter on the rights of homosexuals and that none of the U.N. documents make a direct reference to homosexuality.

“We must recognize the diversity in order to achieve equality for human dignity and we must ensure genuine equality,” she told the conference audience. Kabasakal, referring to the two separate milestones at the international level on the rights of homosexuals, said one was the removal by the World Health Organization of homosexuality from the list of the mental illnesses in May 1990, and the other was the adoption of the Yogyakarta Principles in November 2006 which address a broad range of international human rights standards and their application to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Another guest speaker Börje Vestlund, Social Democrat Party member of the Swedish Parliament, said seven homosexuals, including himself, sit in the 349-member Swedish Parliament and expressed hope to see homosexuals members in the future Turkish Parliament. Anette Trettebergstuen, Labor Party member of the Norwegian Parliament, said the Norwegian parliament has three LGBT (an acronym for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender). She said the gender mutual marriage act would come into force in Norway in 2009. The last speaker of the conference, Kürsad Kahramanoglu, member of Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Organization (Kaos GL), called on the states to adopt the Yogyakarta Principles. He also emphasized that homosexuals in Turkey give full support for Turkey’s ambitions to become a member of the European Union, since it would also improve the rights of homosexuals in Turkey.

A 20-minute documentary was on display in the beginning of the conference, which depicted interviews with homosexuals, who said they lack legal protections and face social stigma in Turkey and fall victim to discrimination and violence in society.

edgeboston.com
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=20474&pf=1

Friday May 18, 2007

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Turkey Hosts Conference on Anti-Gay Attitudes

by Kilian Melloy, EDGE Boston Contributor
Turkey hosted a two-day meeting on the issue of homophobia this week, with representatives from several nations addressing the problem of anti-gay attitudes in society and in law, both in Turkey and elsewhere around the globe. The Turkish Daily News reported on the meeting, which began May 17 and May 18. The meeting began with a 20-minute documentary about the plight of gays in Turkey, in which homosexual Turks talking about anti-gay prejudice, discrimination and violence in Turkish law and culture. One point of discussion was the lack, on the part of the U.N., of a universal charter that would comprehensively lay out the rights of gays and lesbians internationally. Zehra Kabasakal spoke to this topic, saying, "We must recognize the diversity in order to achieve equality for human dignity and we must ensure genuine equality."

Kabasakal, whose specialty is in the fields of women’s rights and political science, bemoaned the lack of any concrete statement regarding gays and lesbians in any of the U.N.’s documents. Kabasakal cited the scanty patchwork of international initiatives that address the needs of gays and lesbians worldwide, specifically the World Health Organization’s 1990 removal of homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses and the 2006 adoption of the so-called "Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity," a set of recommendations and guidelines that address international standards of human rights for gays, lesbians, and transgendered people.

Guest speakers also included Börje Vestlund, one of seven gay members of the Sweden’s 349-member Parliament, and Anette Trettebergstuen, one of three LGBT members of the Norwegian Parliament. Accoding to the Turkish Daily report, Vestlund gave voice to the hope that the Turkish Parliament might also one day include openly gay members, while Trettebergstuen told attendees that Norway’s "gender mutual marriage act" would come into effect in 2009.

The Turkish GLBT group Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Organization also had a presence at the meeting. In October 2005, Kaos won a court case brought against them by the deputy governor of Ankara, who sought to shut the group down. At this week’s meeting, according to the Turkish Daily News, KAOS member Kürsad Kahramanoglu spoke about Turkey’s aspirations to join the European Union and the effect that would have on Turkey’s domestic policies toward gays. Kahramanoglu also encouraged EU member nations to adopt officially the Yogyakarta Principles.

The text of the Yogyakarta Principles, along with other information, is available online at www.yogyakartaprinciples.org

From: Kaos GL Association, Ankara
Kaos GL, Izmir
Lambda Istanbul LGBTT Provident Society
MorEl ( PurpleHand) Eskisehir LGBTT Initiative Pembe Hayat LGBTT Association

July 2007

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Monitoring the Human Rights and Law Commission of LGBTT

Monitoring the Human Rights and Law Commission of LGBTT Individuals in Turkey Homosexual organizations in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir are recording the human rights violations that gay, lesbian, drag, transsexual individuals are facing. The organizations are calling out to LGBTT individuals who are subject to discrimination and violence. Up until now, homosexual individuals solely have got into contact with homosexual organizations when they were subjected to any kind of discrimination and violence. However, the organizations either couldnt record this information regularly or they recorded them missing the important points that secure data within the circle of case. They couldnt go back to the records later and follow the process, neither.

While homosexual organizations giving voice that they struggle in the fields of human rights, they generally give ordinary and memorized answers to the violations that homosexual individuals are facing and also turn off the questions like how many violations were faced by them last year and how was the distribution of violations? which right is abused the most? Besides, the other human rights organizations havent been interested in homosexual victims systematically and they havent utilized the human rights mechanisms effectively concerning their problems.

Taking into account all these deficiencies and needs, the organizations like Kaos GL, Kaos GL Izmir, Pembe Hayat( Pink Life) and Lambdaistanbul started to work together at the Project called Efficient Utilization of the Human Rights Mechanisms for the LGBTT Individuals . By the help of this project, that is prepared to solving all these problems, by raising the capacity of homosexual organizations, it is aimed to provide them utilize the national and international human rights mechanisms efficiently and to fetter, monitor and report the violations against homosexual individuals.

Kaos GL and Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) LGBTT organization in Ankara, Kaos GL Izmir organization in Izmir and Lambdaistanbul LGBTT organization in Istanbul call for homosexual individuals to tell the human rights violations that are living.

Our Freedom Of Association Can Not Be Hindered
As LGBTT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Drag, Transsexual) individuals, our rights are being violated in every field of our lives and we are subjected to discrimination. However, when we want to struggle against these human rights abuses and discrimination our organization is wanted to be hindered. There are bureaucratic, institutional and social difficulties over against the LGBTT individuals organization at associations. These obstacles have to be removed.

We think that, violations towards the LGBBT organizations that are occurred against the freedom of thought, expression and association in May are important as for the displaying of LGBTT individuals problems in the field of human rights. For a democratic and free world, we demand the elimination of all barriers against the freedom of association.

When we want to form an association as homosexuals, they want to hinder us with the article it can not be formed an association contrary to the law and morals laying before us. By the refusal of closing case by office of the director of public prosecutions, Kaos GL completed its organization process. However, Lambdaistanbul and Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) LGBTT provident societies that apply for being association with the same statutes faced with obstructive attitudes of Ankara and Istanbul governorships. After the filing to associations desk, both of the desks by filing a paper to the office of the public prosecutor demanded the closure of these two associations.

Directory of Public Prosecutions of Ankara and Istanbul again refused the file of associations desk by reason of these associations havent been impedimenting contradiction to law and morals. But, associations desks of Ankara and Istanbul governorships by disputing this decision, resorted to the court above. The fifth assize court in Istanbul decided to file a suit. Now, Lambdaistanbul LGBTT provident society, that has been struggled for the rights of homosexuals, is wanted to be closed. Our association cant be closed. Our freedom of association can not be hindered

On the other hand, Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) LGBTT provident society due to organizing general meeting as acting in accordance with the decision of Directory of Public Prosecutions chairman was imposed to a money penalty of 498 YTL by the reason of organizing general meeting before its legal time. attitude that is punitive and restricting the freedoms in the direction of how a NGO to be organized, isnt democratic, but is obstructive for the development of civil society. We protest this attitude. We condemn the non-civil interventions against civil society.

On 15 May 2007 it is gone to Esat Police Station to make press statement in the protesting the arbitrary custody, bad treatment and letting of unjust money penalties using the criminal law as a reason against drags and transsexuals of Esat Police Station. But by the policemen who are in duty at Esat Police Station the press statement was tried to be hindered. In view of press, the members of Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) LGBTT provident society were subjected to bad treatment and torture. We will not permit the disturbance of our freedom of thought, expression, and association. We will continue to out the human rights abuses and to struggle in field of human rights of homosexuals.

Türk Egitimsen Hatay Dortyol Branch made a criminal complaint about LGBT Student Club of Istanbul Bilgi University by reason of it gives permission to the organization of homosexual students. Also, Higher Education Council (YOK) opened an inquiry against Istanbul Bilgi University and demand a defence. We condemn this attempt against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, drag and transsexual individualss freedom of association. The access to the internet web sites of Kaos GL, Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) and Lambdaistanbul association is blocked from the all computers within the campus of Anadolu University in Eskisehir. Univesity students are faced with a warning Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Interest or Adult Content together with a bording The Access to This Web Site is Blocked. This blockage is a human right violation against the LGBTT individualss freedom of thought, expression and association. We protest this position that we are subjected to and this frustration against the lgbtt indiviualss freedom of expression, information and communication due to nothing but we are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, drags, transsexuals!

The efforts for frustration against the organization of LGBTT individuals are discrimination and is an attack against the freedom of association. We will not be silent against these attacks.

Associated Press
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.gay15jul15,0,99051.story?coll=

July 15, 2007

10
Gays in Turkey jostling for more rights

Ankara, Turkey – In the 1980s and 1990s, Turkish police routinely raided gay bars, detained transvestites and banned homosexual conferences and festivals. In May, in a sign of how the state has loosened up, gay activists held forums on several university campuses to discuss their rights and the discrimination they still face. Some delegates came from Norway and Sweden, and discussion topics included homophobia, the history of homosexuality and gay life on campuses. Gays in Turkey say they lack legal protections and face social stigma in a Muslim nation with a secular tradition of government that has implemented broad reforms in its bid to join the European Union – but remains heavily influenced by conservative and religious values. For the most part, they face less pressure than in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries where Islamic codes are enforced with more rigor.

But Turkey’s homosexuals are jostling for more rights in a crowded field. The historical feud between Turks and Armenians, as well as the concerns of ethnic Kurds and minority Christians, attract more international attention and pressure for change on the Turkish government.

"There are so many problems in Turkey," Ali Erol, a member of the gay rights group Kaos GL, said in an interview in his office in Ankara, the Turkish capital. "It looks as though gay rights are put down below in the list of things to be taken care of." In March, the chief editor of the group’s magazine, Kaos GL, was acquitted of charges that he had illegally published pornography in a July 2006 issue after a judge noted that copies were seized before they were put on sale. The editor, Umut Guner, could have faced several years in jail if convicted. The issue that got the magazine in trouble showed two images of men in explicit sexual poses, beside an article that editors described as an analysis of issues relating to pornography. The magazine first published in 1994, and became legal when it secured a license five years later. It comes out every two month and has a circulation of up to 1,000.

In recent years, Turkey reworked its penal code to bring it into line with European standards. The new version does not specifically ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, although the issue was discussed at the draft stage. Justice Ministry officials had said that laws barring discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion and political views were enough to protect its citizens. "There are some ‘hate crime’ articles in the criminal code, but they are not used appropriately," said Levent Korkut, head of Amnesty International’s operations in Turkey. "Impunity is a problem in this area." He noted that even some Turks who describe themselves as liberals say: "We don’t want to protect these people."

Yet, for many, being homosexual is an exercise in deception. One gay man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was distraught years ago because high school classmates kept calling him ibne, a derogatory word for gay in Turkish. The man, now a university student, said he avoids physical contact with his boyfriend when they are in public and passes him off as a close friend. He said he is often mocked if he wears an article of clothing that people think is feminine. Unable to find regular jobs, many transvestites and transsexuals work as prostitutes, an often-dangerous profession that has led to the murders of some at the hands of clients.

Some deadly "hate crimes" were never publicized because police did not reveal the sexual orientation of the victims, according to gay activists. In some cases, they said, gays who were harassed or physically harmed because of their orientation did not report the incident or go to court because they wanted to avoid scrutiny. The European Union has funded gay groups in Turkey, which sometimes coordinate with the Turkish Ministry of Health and other government agencies. Kaos GL has links to Lambda Istanbul, a gay group in Turkey’s biggest city, and hosted an "international anti-homophobia" meeting on university campuses in Ankara nearly two months ago.

"We want to share and learn the experiences of all gays and lesbians who struggle against homophobia in the Middle East, Balkans, Europe and the other parts of the world," the group said in a statement. About 20 participants came from other countries, and Erol said after the meetings: "We have now moved beyond the borders." Kaos GL paid tribute to Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist who was allegedly killed by extremist nationalists in January, by printing a somber image of him on the back cover of a recent issue.

"Those people who murdered Hrant Dink do not like us either," Erol said.

From: Kaos GL
http://news.kaosgl.com/

11
The discrimination based on sexual orientation prevents freedom of organizing LGBTT people in Turkey. Lambda Istanbul faces threat of being closed down.

We are asking: Is it immoral to be organized?
Stating that "Not only heterosexuals live in this society!", Turkey’s lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transvestite and transsexual (LGBTT) associations are trying to benefit from their freedom of speech in order to fight aganist the discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual identity. Turkish LGBTT people are against denial, marginalisation, stigmatisation and violence; they are seeking recognition of their existence in society.

Since 2005, civil groups and associations that apply to gain NGO (non-govemental) status were always confronted with the similar types of obstructions. Attempt to establish Kaos GL risked being rejected with a claim that "an immoral association cannot be founded". However on October 12, 2005, Kaos GL won their first victory when the court rejected a government demand to shut down that newly-formed LGBTT association.

Now Lambda Istanbul faces the same threat of being closed down. The Turkish Civil Code states that associations against law and morality cannot be established. Becasue Lambda Istanbuls title has the words lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transvestite and transsexual in it, this association’s title and purposes were found to be against the Turkish Civil Code," said the governor’s letter sent to public prosecutors and the group, Lambda Istanbul.

The first trial will be held on July 19th, Thursday at 10:00 am. On January 29, 2004 Turkey’s Parliamentary Justice Commission voted to alter the ‘discrimination’ clause in the Penal Code to include discrimination based on sexual orientation as a crime. Turkish LGBT activists praised the legislation that would result in criminal charges against a person who refuses anyone service, housing or employment on the basis of sexual orientation. If the law had passed, Turkey could have become the first predominantly Muslim country to pass such a law. Although "sexism" and "discrimination against sexual orientation" are different issues of facts (aspects), the Minister of Justice Cemil Cicek claimed that they would express similar things and demanded that the expression "sexual orientation" should be taken out of the main paragraph concerning "discrimination".

Therefore on July 6, 2004 The Parliamentary Justice Commission took up the discrimination clause and decided to replace it with the discrimination clause that exists in the Constitution. According to the Article No.10 of the Turkish Constitution, discrimination based on language, race, skin color, gender, political opinion, religion, denomination and similar reasons is prohibited but it does not directly refer to sexual orientation.

Criterias and conventions must be binding for everybody and everywhere! We want to remind that the Republic’s Chief Prosecutor in Ankara rejected an official demand to shut down a newly-formed LGBTT association (Kaos GL) in Ankara in 2005. The prosecutor said in his ruling that the American Psychiatric Association did not rate homosexuality as a disorder and the words "gay" and "lesbian" were widely used in daily life and scientific research. He also put some international laws into consideration such as: the EU’s political criterias, the Accession Partnership Document, the European Convention on Human Rights and supporting international conventions on human rights:

We also remind that both LGBTT associations "Lambdaistanbul," and "Kaos GL," are founded with the same objectives and are working in the frame of the law. We demand to fairness and have the same criterias and conventions in the city of Istanbul as well. Even before registering to gain a legal NGO status, Lambdaistanbul has been an active organization in the past. We, as members of below-mentioned Turkish associations that fight for human rights and freedom, are declaring to the public that we will continue to support Lambdaistanbul and its ideals and together resist the discriminatory practices that we face.

Main petitioners:

Kaos Gay-Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association

Pembe Hayat Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transvestite and Transsexual Solidarity Association

TPC Women Platform

Co-signers:

Ankara University Gender Studies Group

Ankara Women Platform

Say Stop! to Racism and Nationalism Initiative

Kaos GL Ýzmir

Kaosist Homosexual Non-Govermental Initiative

MorEl Eskisehir LGBTT Organisation

From: news@kaosgl.com wrote:

28 September 2007

Subject: Sexual Orientation and the Constitution: Preparation of a New Constitution in the Republic of Turkey
From: news@kaosgl.com
To: news@kaosgl.com

12
Sexual Orientation and the Constitution: Preparation of a New Constitution in the Republic of Turkey September 24, 2007

As Kaos GL Association, we ask you to make a call and remind the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to add the concepts of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the new Constitution’s article regulating “equality” in order to stop the discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. You can find contact informations at the end of the page. And it would be very nice if you forward the copies of mails or faxes to Kaos GL which you made a call.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Transexual (LGBTT) Realty in Turkey Should be Recognized: The Concept of “Sexual Orientation” SHOULD be Added to The Article Regulating “Equality” in The Constitution

After the elections on 22 July 2007 in Turkey, the new government has started to prepare a new Constitution naming it “Civil Society Based Constitution” in order to emphasize that it will replace Turkey’s current Constitution which was written by the military rule in 1982. The draft Constitution will be made public in coming days. As Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (Kaos GL), we know the scope and preparation process of the new Constitution as much as they are shared with the society. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) Government Spokesman Cemil Çiçek states that they are preparing a new Constitution which represents the whole society. He also states that they expect contribution of the whole society before the draft Constitution will be submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. But, as Kaos GL Association, we see that LGBTT individuals are ignored, although it is said that a modern and democratic Constitution representing the whole society in Turkey will be prepared.

The current Constitution of Turkey does not recognize the LGBTT reality in Turkey. We, LGBTT individuals in Turkey, have been trying to use our freedom of expression for 15 years in order to stop the discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. We have demanded “A Reference to ‘Sexual Orientation’ in the Constitution’s 10th Article Regulating Equality!” Homosexuality is not defined as a crime in the current Constitution. However, it is also not referred in it! So, in practice, this situation deprives LGBTT individuals of legal protection. In other words, just because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBTT individuals face discrimination and oppression, are excluded in every aspect of life, cannot participate equally and cannot defend themselves.

We demand recognition of the LGBTT reality in Turkey by referring to “sexual orientation”, a concept which consists of two words, in the Constitution. We want to state that we do not demand a special treatment. Rather, the arrangement we want is a just demand which is based on “equality” and is against “discrimination”. Increasing discrimination and violence directed at LGBTT individuals and deprivation of legal protection against this discrimination and violence make us worry. LGBTT individuals are fired because of the discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation at workplace and face psychological and physical violence at private and public spheres just because of their sexual orientation. Transvestite and transsexual individuals are excluded in every aspect of life because of their gender identity. They face attacks towards their right to live.

When LGBTT individuals want to form a solidarity association, they are tried to be hindered by court cases opened on the basis of the article “it can not be formed an association contrary to the law and morals”. Although LGBTT individuals want to live in a free and democratic country like each citizen of the Republic of Turkey, they cannot find the courage to defend themselves legally because they see that their rights are not protected enough under current circumstances. As Kaos GL Association, we demand that the new Constitution of the Republic of Turkey protects the rights of all citizens of the Republic of Turkey and includes the articles which prevent all discriminations. We think that the new “Civil Society Based” Constitution’s article regulating “equality” should include the concepts of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in addition to “sex” which is the existing concept in the current Constitution.

Sincerely
Kaos GL Association

Addresses that you can make a call:
President Abdullah Gul Fax: (+90) 312 427 13 30 E-mail: cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr

The Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan Fax: (+90) 312 417 04 76 E-mail: bimer@basbakanlik.gov.tr

The Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
Koksal Toptan Fax: (+90) 312 420 51 65 E-mail: koksal.toptan@tbmm.gov.tr

The Minister of Justice
Mehmet Ali Sahin Fax: (+90) 312 419 33 70

The Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ali Babacan Fax: (+90) 312 287 88 11

Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association Address: Gazi Mustafa Kemal Bulvari, 29/12, Demirtepe / Kizilay – Ankara, Türkiye Phone no: +90 312 230 0358 Fax no: +90 312 230 6277 E-mail: kaosgl@kaosgl.org

Human Rights News
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/10/16/turkey17107.htm

October 16, 2007

13
Turkey: End Legal Action Against Gay Rights Group , Attempt to Close Lambda Istanbul Endangers Basic Freedoms

(New York) – A legal challenge by the governor of Istanbul seeking to close down Lambda Istanbul, a gay rights organization, threatens basic freedoms of association and expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Shutting down groups because you don’t like the people they represent is an attack on freedom itself,” said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, who will attend an October 18, 2007 court hearing in Istanbul on the organization’s fate. “If organizations that defend human rights cannot function, Turkey’s status as a real democracy is in danger.” The Governor’s Office of Istanbul has demanded the closure of Lambda Istanbul, an organization defending lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people’s rights in Turkey, claiming that the name and objectives of the group are “against the law and morality”. The governor had asked in early 2007 that the group be shut down; in July, the local Prosecutor’s Office rejected the complaint. The Governor’s Office then took the case to a higher court, the Beyoglu Sutluce Court of First Instance No. 5, which heard the case in July 2007 and ordered a second hearing for October.

The Provincial Associations Directorate of the Governor’s Office, responsible for nongovernmental organizations, alleged that Lambda Istanbul’s aims violate the Turkish Civil Code and Article 41 of the Constitution. Article 56 of the Turkish Civil Code states that, “No association may be founded for purposes against law and morality.” Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution states that “[t]he family is the foundation of the Turkish society …”and that “[t]he state shall take the necessary measures and establish the necessary organisation to ensure the peace and welfare of the family.” Article 54 of Turkey’s Law on Associations allows for the suspension of organizations on the grounds, among others, of “public morality.”

Lambda Istanbul’s charter defines its main aim as “to support all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to adopt equality as a value, to realize their inner selves and to help bring peace and welfare; to guide LGBT individuals in becoming more professional, more active and responsible towards society and in social matters.” The governor’s complaint also claims the group’s name contravenes the law as “Lambda” is not a Turkish word. The word is an internationally recognized symbol of LGBT identity. Lambda Istanbul has defended the Turkish LGBT community since its creation in 1993. It operates a telephone helpline to counsel LGBT people and raises awareness through cultural, educational, and political activities. It has actively lobbied for legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Lambda applied for nongovernmental organization status with the Ministry of the Interior in 2006, but its application is on hold until the court reaches a decision.

Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations in Turkey. Kaos GL, based in Ankara, faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, in 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by the Prosecutor’s Office. In 2005, sexual orientation was included as a protected status in an early draft of an anti-discrimination bill in Parliament, but lawmakers later eliminated the language. Meanwhile, laws and regulations that refer to “general morality” are still used to restrict LGBT people’s rights to association and expression, and also to justify police arrests and harassment on the streets.

Turkey is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Both treaties protect the rights to freedom of expression and association and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Source: Human Rights Watch Press Release
http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=17033

October 25, 2007

14
Human Rights Watch Calls for an End to Legal Action Against Turkish Gay Rights Group

by Chrys Hudson
New York-based Human Rights Watch is calling on the governor of Istanbul to put an end to a legal challenge seeking to close down the gay rights organization Lambda Istanbul.

“Shutting down groups because you don’t like the people they represent is an attack on freedom itself,” Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, said in a release. “If organizations that defend human rights cannot function, Turkey’s status as a real democracy is in danger.”

The Governor’s Office of Istanbul has demanded the closure of Lambda Istanbul, an organization that defends lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people’s rights in Turkey, claiming that the name and objectives of the group are “against the law and morality.” The governor had asked in early 2007 that the group be shut down; in July, the local Prosecutor’s Office rejected the complaint. The Governor’s Office then took the case to a higher court, the Beyoglu Sutluce Court of First Instance No. 5, which heard the case in July 2007 and ordered a second hearing for October. The Provincial Associations Directorate of the Governor’s Office, responsible for nongovernmental organizations, alleged that Lambda Istanbul’s aims violate the Turkish Civil Code and Article 41 of the Constitution. Article 56 of the Turkish Civil Code states that, “No association may be founded for purposes against law and morality.” Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution states that “[t]he family is the foundation of the Turkish society …” and that “[t]he state shall take the necessary measures and establish the necessary organization to ensure the peace and welfare of the family.” Article 54 of Turkey’s Law on Associations allows for the suspension of organizations on the grounds, among others, of “public morality.”

Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down other LGBT organizations in Turkey. Kaos GL, based in Ankara, faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, in 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by the Prosecutor’s Office. In 2005, sexual orientation was included as a protected status in an early draft of an anti-discrimination bill in Parliament, but lawmakers later eliminated the language. Meanwhile, laws and regulations that refer to “general morality” are still used to restrict LGBT people’s rights to association and expression, and also to justify police arrests and harassment on the streets. Turkey is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Both treaties protect the rights to freedom of expression and association and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Time
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1718039,00.html

February 28, 2008

14a
Turkey’s Anti-War Diva

by Pelin Turgut/Istanbul
Better known for her tabloid love affairs, plastic surgery and husky voice, transsexual Turkish diva Bulent Ersoy makes the unlikeliest political activist. Yet she has caused a storm of outrage by becoming the only public personality to speak out against Turkey’s invasion of northern Iraq. So pervasive is the nationalist climate that Ersoy has been vilified for declaring — on a national TV equivalent of American Idol, where she is a judge — that if she had a son, she would not have sent him to fight this war. She is now under investigation for being "anti-military".

Ersoy is widely popular, but the response to her declaration has been bellicose. Turkey’s TV watchdog said it has been inundated with calls protesting Ersoy’s comments. Officials at the Star TV channel are said to be contemplating dropping her as a judge on the show. An Istanbul prosecutor has begun an investigation into her remarks on the grounds that they could put people off military service, compulsory for men over the age of 18. Many of those killed in Iraq have been conscripts. (This is not the first time Ersoy has been on the wrong side of the military: she was banned from performing for several years following a military coup in 1980.)

When she delivered her remarks on the air, Ersoy immediately got into a fight with a fellow celebrity judge, the singer Ebru Gündes, who countered that were she to have a son, she would have no hesitation in having him "fight like a lion." "Martyrs killed in action do not die, the country will never be divided," she said. Ersoy retorted that there was no point taking refuge in clichés. Turkey’s military has said it has killed 230 PKK rebels in the current operation while Turkish losses stood at 27, but the casualty reports cannot be independently confirmed. The conflict has killed up to 40,000 people since 1984.

The U.S., mindful of upsetting Iraq’s only fairly peaceful region, is urging Turkey for a quick end to the invasion targeting separatist Kurdish rebels based in the mountains of north Iraq. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in Ankara today, called for the operation to be over shortly and for the government to address the economic and social concerns of its Kurdish minority, which complains of cultural and other restrictions as well as deep poverty.

But his call appears to be falling on deaf ears. Turkey is awash in fervent nationalism — newspapers are emblazoned with military heroics and jingoistic slogans. The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is loath to upset a cozy alliance with the far-right Nationalist Action Party, which helped it push through a recent law allowing headscarves in universities. Although thousands of Kurds in the southeast have taken to the streets in recent days to protest the invasion, there has otherwise been virtually no public opposition (with the exception of Ersoy’s comment) to the invasion. A political solution to the Kurdish issue appears a long way off.

Since November, the U.S. has been providing military intelligence to the Turkish army, helping target air strikes. Now that the Turkish army is engaged on the field in north Iraq, it may not want to pull back quickly. Ankara is deeply suspicious of the regional Kurdish government there, which it accuses of supporting the PKK. It is also concerned that the largely autonomous region may seek independence, in turn fomenting similar demands by its own restive Kurdish population. In response to Gates’ remarks, the Turkish military did not set a timetable for withdrawal. "Short-term is a relative notion. Sometimes it is a day, sometimes a year," Chief of Staff Yasar Buyukanit said after his meeting with Gates.

Chicago FreePress
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/53

March 26, 2008

15
Turkey’s GLBT community fights for rights and acceptance

by Christopher Torchia, A.P. writer
Ankara, Turkey—In the 1980s and 1990s, Turkish police routinely raided gay bars, detained transvestites and banned homosexual conferences and festivals. In May, in a sign of how the state has loosened up, gay activists held forums on several university campuses to discuss their rights and the discrimination they still face. Some delegates came from Norway and Sweden, and discussion topics included homophobia, the history of homosexuality and gay life on campuses.

Gays in Turkey say they lack legal protections and face social stigma in a Muslim nation with a secular tradition of government that has implemented broad reforms in its bid to join the European Union but remains heavily influenced by conservative and religious values. For the most part, they face less pressure than in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries where Islamic codes are enforced with more rigor. However, Turkey’s gays are jostling for more rights in a crowded field. The historical feud between Turks and Armenians, as well as the concerns of ethnic Kurds and minority Christians, attract more international attention and pressure for change on the Turkish government.

“There are so many problems in Turkey,” Ali Erol, a member of the gay rights group Kaos GL, said in an interview in his office in Ankara, the Turkish capital. “It looks as though gay rights are put down below in the list of things to be taken care of.” In March, the chief editor of the group’s magazine, also named Kaos GL, was acquitted of charges that he had illegally published pornography in a July 2006 issue after a judge noted that copies were seized before they were put on sale. The editor, Umut Guner, could have faced several years in jail if convicted. The issue that got the magazine in trouble showed two images of men in explicit sexual poses, beside an article that editors described as an analysis of issues relating to pornography. The magazine first published in 1994 and became legal when it secured a license five years later. It comes out every two months, and has a circulation of up to 1,000.

“There are some ‘hate crime’ articles in the criminal code, but they are not used appropriately,” said Levent Korkut, head of Amnesty International’s operations in Turkey. “Impunity is a problem in this area.” He noted that even some Turks who describe themselves as liberals say: “We don’t want to protect these people.”

Gay sex is not a crime in Turkey, and some clubs and cinemas in big cities openly cater to gays. Gay and lesbian societies exist at several universities. But the vast majority of gays remain discreet in a country where liberal views have yet to make inroads in rural areas and many urban settings. Municipalities have some leeway to introduce laws safeguarding “morality,” which gay activists view as a potential threat to their freedom. Some gays, notably poet Murathan Mungan and the late singer Zeki Muren, achieved celebrity status and openly acknowledged their sexual orientation. Similarly, historians and novelists have referred to a degree of tolerance for gay sex among some sectors of the elite during the Ottoman Empire centuries ago.

Yet for many being gay is an exercise in deception. One gay man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was distraught years ago because high school classmates kept calling him “ibne,” a derogatory word for gay in Turkish. The man, now a university student, said he avoids physical contact with his boyfriend when they are in public and passes him off as a close friend. He said he is often mocked if he wears an article of clothing that people think is feminine. Unable to find regular jobs, many transvestites and transsexuals work as prostitutes, an often-dangerous profession that has led to the murders of some at the hands of clients. Some deadly “hate crimes” were never publicized because police did not reveal the sexual orientation of the victims, according to gay activists. In some cases, they said, gays who were harassed or physically harmed because of their orientation did not report the incident or go to court because they wanted to avoid scrutiny.

The European Union has funded gay groups in Turkey, which sometimes coordinate with the Turkish Ministry of Health and other government agencies. Kaos GL has links to Lambda Istanbul, a gay group in Turkey’s biggest city, and hosted an “international anti-homophobia” meeting on university campuses in Ankara nearly two months ago. “We want to share and learn the experiences of all gays and lesbians who struggle against homophobia in the Middle East, Balkans, Europe and the other parts of the world,” the group said in a statement. About 20 participants came from other countries, and Erol said after the meetings, “We have now moved beyond the borders.”

The Kaos GL magazine paid tribute to Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian journalist who was allegedly slain by extremist nationalists in January, by printing a somber image of him on the back cover of a recent issue. “Those people who murdered Hrant Dink do not like us either,” Erol said.

AP reporter Ceren Kumova contributed to this report.

Pink News
http://pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7377.html

12th April 2008

16
Istanbul gay group raided by police

by Tony Grew
Police officers in Turkey have raided the offices of a leading LGBT organisation on the pretence that "frequent visits by transgender people" were grounds to issue a search warrant. Lawyers for the Lambda Istanbul Cultural Centre later discovered that an accusation had been lodged against the association for "participating in illegal prostitution activities, procuring transgender sex workers and sharing their earnings." More than a dozen plainclothes officers spent two hours at the centre on Monday afternoon. "They examined the premises and all materials in the office, and also collected the identity cards of everyone who entered the centre," a spokesperson for Lambda said.

"At the end of their search they were not able to find evidence of a criminal offence; however, they took with them some important documents regarding Lambda’s financial and membership systems. Lambda Istanbul is also currently involved in a court case over the association’s right to apply for official status as an organisation, following a complaint by the city governorship that Lambda should be closed down as the group is a threat to Turkish family values and public decency. Our fifth hearing will be held on April 17. We are hoping that this case will be ruled in our favour but are prepared to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your ongoing support. Your messages of solidarity mean a lot to us."

Lambda claims that Labrys, a gay rights group in Kyrgyzstan, was also raided by the police on the same day under the pretext of illegal prostitution activity and forced to submit various papers. Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organisations in Turkey but failed. Kaos GL, based in Ankara, faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, in 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by prosecutors. The chairman of Dutch gay rights group COC, Frank van Dalen, says that closing Lambda Istanbul would be against non-discriminatory guidelines issued by the European Union and against the universal right to free speech.

Turkey is a candidate country for EU membership, but concerns about human rights are one factor frustrating negotiations. The closing of Lambda would be a devastating blow for the European LGBT emancipation movement, according to COC. Mr Van Dalen has called on the Dutch government to not support Turkey’s application for EU membership until "basic human rights are fully respected by Turkey."

16 April 2008

16a
Documentary About Muslim Homosexuals Screened at Turkish Film Festival

by Dorian Jones
Istanbul – At this year’s Istanbul International Film Festival, one of the major attractions is A Jihad for Love, a documentary about a taboo subject: homosexuality in Islamic countries. Homosexuality is strictly banned in most interpretations of the Koran. This is the first time the film is being screened in a Muslim country. For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from the festival. The ending of A Jihad for Love, was greeted with rapturous applause from a packed audience. The film, which Indian Muslim director Pervez Sharma filmed in 12 countries and took six years to make, is an intimate look at the lives of 12 gay Muslim men and women. Much of the material was filmed in secret in Muslim countries that ban homosexuality. But Sharma says the film is as much about the Muslim faith as it is about homosexuality.

"The world’s first film, about Islam and homosexuality, because what is central to this film is Islam. The Koran is central to this film. I always say that I made this film with a Muslim camera, and if I had been a white Western filmmaker, as opposed to a gay Muslim filmmaker, I don’t think I would been able to make this film, or get the kind of access that I did into these communities, that had been surrounded by silence." said Sharma Sharma argues the film is not intended as an attack on Islam, but rather a defense of it. He says the movie is aimed as much at Western audiences as at Muslims, with the goal of challenging stereotypes about the Islamic faith, which exist in the post-September 11 world.

"It shows people, Islam is not a problematic monolith, but that is lived in very diverse ways, in different countries, that it is living religion. It is the world’s fastest growing religion, for a reason, and it certainly enables the discourse about Islam to shift. It takes it away from violence and takes it towards love, and that is why I called the film a Jihad for Love," added Sharma. While homosexuality is legal in Muslim-majority Turkey, it remains a taboo subject for many. This member of the audience appreciated that the wall of silence was broken. Warm responses came as a major relief to the filmmakers. The festival flew in several people who were featured in the documentary, including Egyptian-born Mazen, who now lives in self-imposed exile in Paris, because he is homosexual. He said he had concerns about attending the Istanbul festival.

"I was afraid when I came to Turkey, I was nervous, when I arrived to audience for the question and answer. I was shaking. I did not know from where I will get the questions and what they will be, but I saw the people , I saw them applauding me, applauding everybody in the film. I said phew, I was very happy," said Mazen. The response was not all positive. Several of Turkey’s Islamic newspapers condemned the film, calling it an attack on the Islamic faith. According to orthodox interpretations of the Koran, homosexuality is strictly forbidden. Festival organizers placed security guards in the audience during the screening and the question-and-answer period after the film.

Hostility toward the film is nothing new, according to A Jihad for Love producer Sandi Dubowski. That is why he says its screening in Istanbul was so important. "It is groundbreaking because we have been submitting to film festivals in the Arab world and we’ve been rejected," he said. "So it is quite a landmark for us to be here. We are doing a tour to Indonesia but it is kind of ironic because we have been just banned in Singapore." The film and its filmmakers will tour the world for the next couple of years. Screenings are planned in India and Indonesia. The filmmakers hope the Arab world will eventually open its doors and allow A Jihad for Love to be seen.

Turkish Daily News
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=103859

May 9, 2008

17
Homosexual magazine publishes 100th edition

Istanbul – Radikal – Turkey’s first and only homosexual magazine “Kaos GL,” being produced for 15 years has been published for the 100th time. The latest edition of the magazine includes articles and interviews by renowned personalities such as, Adnan Yildiz, Aksu Bora, Ayse Düzkan, Kürsad Kahramanoglu, Murathan Mungan, Tanil Bora, Tugrul Eryilmaz, Yildirim Türker, Naim Dilmener and Zeynep Aksoy. They all contributed to the 100th edition.

The magazine, which was just an eight-page photocopy when it was first published, has played an important role in drawing attention to the rights of homosexuals. The edition covers 100 songs, films and books that have an important place in homosexual culture. There is an interview with Hande Yener, the famous Turkish pop singer, who was chosen as Turkey’s “gay icon” in a poll of Kaos GL readers. Letters from gay parents are also part of the content.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7644.html

May 15, 2008

18
Britain’s out MEP to march in Turkey for gay rights

by Tony Grew
Michael Cashman with join authors, journalists and human rights defenders on a march against homophobia and transphobia in Ankara on Saturday. Mr Cashman is one of only two out gay MEPs in the 785-member European Parliament. Gay groups in Turkey have faced court action in recent years as the country, which is a candidate for European Union membership, grapples with LGBT rights. The march will start at the Human Rights Monument in the Turkish capital and end at the National Assembly. Protesters will demand constitutional equality. It is the first International Day Against Homophobia march in Ankara.

"IDAHO is the day for standing and acting against all physical, moral and symbolic types of violence targeting sexual identities and sexual orientations," organisers Kaos GL and the Pink Life LGBTT Association said. "This day aims to be in coordination with all initiatives struggling for the equality of humankind through inspration and supporting them. Only the rainbow flag will be carried during our walk against homophobia. Let’s walk all together against homophobia and transphobia under the rainbow flag. To free homosexuals will also free and heterosexuals."

Last month police officers in Turkey raided the offices of a leading LGBT organisation on the pretence that "frequent visits by transgender people" were grounds to issue a search warrant. Lawyers for the Lambda Istanbul Cultural Centre later discovered that an accusation had been lodged against the association for "participating in illegal prostitution activities, procuring transgender sex workers and sharing their earnings." More than a dozen plainclothes officers spent two hours at the centre.

"They examined the premises and all materials in the office, and also collected the identity cards of everyone who entered the centre," a spokesperson for Lambda said. "At the end of their search they were not able to find evidence of a criminal offence; however, they took with them some important documents regarding Lambda’s financial and membership systems."

Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organisations in Turkey but failed. Kaos GL faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, in 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by prosecutors. Turkey is a candidate country for EU membership, but concerns about human rights are one factor frustrating negotiations. The chairman of Netherlands gay rights group COC, Frank van Dalen has called on the Dutch government to not support their application for EU membership until "basic human rights are fully respected by Turkey."

The UK is a vocal supporter of Turkish membership.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7676.html

May 19, 2008

19
Gay protest in Turkey makes the news in Iran

by Tony Grew
The state broadcaster of the Islamic Republic of Iran has reported on an International Day Against Homophobia event in Turkey. As reported by PinkNews.co.uk last week, Michael Cashman MEP joined authors, journalists and human rights defenders on a march against homophobia and transphobia in Ankara on Saturday. Mr Cashman is one of only two out gay MEPs in the 785-member European Parliament. The march started at the Human Rights Monument in the Turkish capital and ended at the National Assembly.

It was the first International Day Against Homophobia march in Ankara. "Until recent years, due to cultural and social norms of the Turkish society which opposes sexual deviation, homosexuals used to keep a low profile in the country," said a report on official website of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). "However, in the past two years, members of this group are trying to organise and establish themselves through gatherings and publications. Meanwhile, some Turkish media have helped the social acceptance of homosexuals by trying to portray the sexual deviation as a normal behaviour."

Iran is one of a handful of countries that executes people, including minors, for consenting homosexual acts. Human rights groups claim that as many as 4,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed as a result of their sexual orientation since the Islamic revolution in 1979. Gay groups in Turkey, a secular Islamic state, have faced court action in recent years as the country, which is a candidate for European Union membership, grapples with LGBT rights. Last month police officers in Turkey raided the offices of a leading LGBT organisation on the pretence that "frequent visits by transgender people" were grounds to issue a search warrant.

Lawyers for the Lambda Istanbul Cultural Centre later discovered that an accusation had been lodged against the association for "participating in illegal prostitution activities, procuring transgender sex workers and sharing their earnings." More than a dozen plainclothes officers spent two hours at the centre. Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organisations in Turkey but failed. Kaos GL faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, in 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by prosecutors.

Turkey is a candidate country for EU membership, but concerns about human rights are one factor frustrating negotiations. The chairman of Netherlands gay rights group COC, Frank van Dalen, has called on the Dutch government to not support their application for EU membership until "basic human rights are fully respected by Turkey." The UK is a vocal supporter of Turkish membership.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7815.html

June 3, 2008

20
Turkey’s gays invite world to Pride week

by Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk
The courts may just have ordered them to close down, but Turkey’s leading LGBT group is planning a week-long celebration of gay life. Lambda Istanbul’s closure was ordered by an Istanbul court last week. A department of the Istanbul Governor’s office responsible for non-governmental organisations alleged that the group violates Turkish laws on morality. Despite this legal setback, Rising Rainbow in Istanbul: LGBT Pride Week of Turkey will take place between June 23rd and June 29th.

Activists, artists, politicians and journalists from Turkey and the rest of the world will join in the activities, such as film screenings, forums, parties, concerts, workshops and an LGBT Pride March. The highlight of Istanbul’s Pride week will be The Genetically Modified Tomato Awards. Since 2005 they have been given to individuals or institutions that have made homophobic statements during the previous year. Lambda Istanbul aims to "support all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to adopt equality as a value." It will appeal the decision to close it down at the Court of Appeal. If it upholds the ruling they will become the first gay rights group to be closed by any member or candidate member of the European Union.

Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organisations in Turkey but failed. Kaos GL, based in Ankara, faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, in 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by prosecutors. The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe last week issued a stark reminder to the Turkish government that freedom of expression and freedom of association are enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, which Turkey has ratified.

Lluis Maria de Puig expressed his "profound concern" after the banning of Lambda Legal. "The arguments put forward by the prosecutor, reportedly leading to the closure of the association Lambda Istanbul, whose activities were held to infringe the laws on public morality, are puzzling to me," said Mr de Puig, who is a Spanish Socialist. "Freedom of expression and freedom of association are enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, which Turkey has ratified as a member of the Council of Europe," he added.

direland.typepad.com
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2008/06/turkeys-latest.html

June 06, 2008

21
Turkey’s Latest Anti-Gay Surge

I wrote the following report for this week’s Gay City News, New York City’s largest gay and lesbian weekly newspaper: In the latest in a series of legal attacks on LGBT organizations and publications in Turkey, on May 29 a court in Istanbul, the nation’s largest city, ordered the dissolution of Lambda Istanbul. Founded in 1993, the group is Turkey’s oldest LGBT organization, and has organized Gay Pride marches in that city every year since 2003. The organization has been under attack from Istanbul’s governor, Muammer Güler (right), since 2007, when his office brought a legal action to close the organization, claiming that Lambda violates both the Penal Code, as an association in violation of "law and morals," and Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution, which is concerned with "the peace and welfare of the family."

Güler was appointed in 2003 by the country’s ruling party, the Islamist AKP (Justice and Development), which has governed the nation since 2001. The court ban on Lambda Istanbul was preceded by six hearings on the case over the last year and a half. Lambda Istanbul lesbian activist Sedef Cakmak told Gay City News by telephone, "We will appeal the court ban to Turkey’s Supreme Court [Yargitay], and our lawyers tell us they think we will win on appeal. Unfortunately, the court system in Turkey is very slow, and our lawyers say a decision on our appeal may take one to two years. They have not even been given as yet a copy of the full verdict by the local court." She continued, "But if our appeal goes against us, we will then take the case to the European Court of Human Rights." Cakmak told this reporter that Lambda Istanbul has called a protest demonstration against the ban for Saturday, June 7.

The group, she explained, is a non-hierarchical organization with no officers and about 150 official members, "but our real support is much larger than that, because most LGBT people in Turkey are afraid to come out in public and don’t want to put their names on our membership rolls. People can be beaten or thrown out of the house by their own families for being gay and ostracized by their friends and communities. Homophobia exists in every part of society, and we are attacked as a disease and a perversion. But despite this, we have 50 active volunteers who work with us, many of whom are not officially members, which is pretty good!" A lawyer for Lambda Istanbul was told by prosecutors that it has been under renewed surveillance since March of this year, and on April 7, Istanbul police raided Lambda Istanbul’s Cultural Center, seizing the group’s membership list and other documents. The warrant for the raid cited suspicions that Lambda "facilitates prostitution, acts as a go-between [and] provides a place for [prostitution]."

The police accused us of pimping for transgendered sex workers and of being a center of prostitution," Cakmak said, "but of course they found nothing to confirm these ridiculous and false charges. Our membership list and other documents were eventually returned to us, and up until now none of our members has been bothered by the police because their names were on that list." (For more on the raid on Lambda Istanbul, see this reporter’s April 24-30 article, "At World’s Crossroads, Backlash," a hyperlink to which can be found on the online version of this story at gaycitynews.com). Another Lambda Istanbul activist, Öner Ceylan, told me, "Lambda is a 15-year-old organization, so no way we’re giving up the fight or closing down, and our Gay Pride march will continue this year as scheduled on June 29. It will be bigger than ever, with some members of the Turkish and European Parliaments joining us and many LGBTs and friends from all over Turkey."

The march will cap a weeklong festival of activities and events that begins June 23 and includes film screenings, parties, concerts, forums, and workshops. At a June 3 Lambda Istanbul press conference on the court ban that included representatives from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Turkish human rights organizations, Turkish Member of Parliament Ufuk Uras (left) the small ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party) said, "Homophobia is a perverted attitude… Legal protections for all sexual identities should be enshrined in our Constitution." The day after the court ban on Lambda Istanbul, Luis Maria de Puig (right), the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, issued a stark reminder to the Turkish government that freedom of expression and freedom of association are enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, which Turkey has ratified. De Puig expressed his "profound concern" over the banning of Lambda Istanbul, saying, "The arguments put forward by the prosecutor leading to the closure of the association Lambda Istanbul, whose activities were held to infringe the laws on public morality, are puzzling to me." He added, "Any person, whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, has the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, without discrimination. It rests with the authorities to ensure that everyone can exercise these rights."

De Puig is a Spanish Socialist, and the 47-country-member Council of Europe predates the European Union. It promotes and protects democracy and educational and sporting co-operation, and created the European Court of Human Rights. Turkey was a founder member of the Council of Europe in 1949. The court decision dissolving Lambda Istanbul was only the latest in a series of legal attacks on Turkey’s LGBT groups and the right to association. Last spring, Istanbul police conducted a series of muscular raids on gay bars. Cakmak said there had been no further raids since then, but noted, "Transpeople are continually subjected to unjustified police harassment and police violence, whether or not they are sex workers – and even though prostitution is not illegal in Turkey, police will arrest the transgendered and accuse them of being prostitutes and beat them."

In December 2006, the Ankara-based editor of Kaos GL, Turkey’s only magazine for LGBT people (left), 29-year-old gay activist Umut Güner, was indicted under a vague statute banning "obscene" material, and faced up to three years in prison. Authorities seized the magazine’s entire press run (see this reporter’s August 10-16, 2006 article, "Crackdown on Turkey’s Gays," and December 13-19, 2006 article, "Turkish Gay Editor Faces Prison." Güner was acquitted last year. The year before, Ankara’s deputy governor, Selahattin Ekmenoglu, also an appointee of the Islamist AKP, attempted to close down the LGBT association, also named Kaos GL, that publishes the magazine, but the group won its case in court.

This year, to mark the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17, Kaos GL organized a march in Ankara, the nation’s capital, in which more than 100 gay men and women, bisexuals, and transgender people assembled in front of the human rights monument in Yuksel Street for a march to Parliament co-sponsored by the trans-led Pink Life LGBTT Association. The march encountered minor difficulty. The police, who outnumbered the demonstrators, stopped the march and demanded that the rainbow flags and banners be taken down. Marchers agreed and were then allowed to continue. There were no other problems. Joining local Turkish activists was European Parliament Member Michael Cashman (left), the president of the European Parliament’s all-party Intergroup for Gay and Lesbian Rights.

"I found these two days and in particular the march deeply moving," Cashman told UK Gay News, adding, "There were barely 100 of us, and it was a reminder to me of how we in Western countries like the UK take our rights for granted. Those Turkish women and men on that march are heroes and warriors who are prepared to put themselves on the front line to achieve equality. I will never forget them and our sense of solidarity."

Lambda Istanbul’s English-language website page is at http://www.lambdaistanbul.org/php/lambda.php?key=informatio. An extensive LGBT history of Turkey in English is on Kaos GL’s website at http://news.kaosgl.com/turkey_lgbt_history.php

22
Interview with Turkish film-maker Mehmet Binay, director of ‘Whispering Memories’ documentary about the Armenian genocide in 1915

20 June 2008

‘Whispering Memories’, a documentary film by Mehmet Binay tells the story of the ‘converts’, who were Armenians who stayed in Turkey by silently becoming Muslims during the 1915 atrocities. The film will be shown on the Turkish news channel CNN Turk soon.

Mehmet Binay, an experienced documentary filmmaker, listened to whispered stories and started travelling into unknown pages of our history by following a lead on a quote by writer Elias Canetti: "A real coward is one who is afraid of one’s own memories." Director Binay is whispering quietly and silently about what we remember and have forgotten about a group of people who live between the lines and all the things forming our social memory.

Interview with Mehmet Binay:

Q:How did the ‘Whispering Memories’ project come to life?

Mehmet Binay: I came across a small town called Geben in the Kahramanmaras province of Turkey when I was travelling for documenting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline between the years 2003 and 2007. ‘Geben’ in Turkish derives from the Armenian word ‘Gaban, from the village of Geben, lying on the ancient Silk Road. The village has been a bridge between Armenians and Turks with a heritage of thousands of years. The story of Armenians who stayed in Turkey and kept living in the region after the 1915 atrocities, has been ‘whispering’ in the region since that time. I had the opportunity to meet a group of young people who had formed a village development cooperative there. Having well travelled in eastern Anatolia, I’d witnessed that these young people were different than ones in other communities with their liberal attitude and their spirit and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. When I went back to the village in April 2006, they told me about their interest in an amateur oral history project to find out more about hidden pages in the recent history of their community. They had also prepared questions about Armenians, their relationship with Turks and Armenian culture that lived in this vicinity until 1915. All this has inspired me to get answers to questions which could enlighten things we have forgotten or we were forced to forget about our past. The idea of documenting this project came to reality and we started filming work in August 2006.

Q: Could you please explain the reasons and foundations of the idea of turning an oral history project into a documentary film?

MB: I thought that this documentary, without any political or official intentions, could provide a useful step in understanding the past because our official Turkish historical writing doesn’t always guide us fully or accurately when studying about a foreign country (such as Armenia) or even about Turkey herself. Even discussing some historical issues creates huge arguments and discussions. Official history writing, both on the Turkish and Armenian sides, does not establish a close link with common people themselves, leaving laymen confused about political, social and economic conditions of the late 19th century not to mention today’s complex power relations. I thought that it would be a simple yet wise idea to start from people’s own stories and memories to understand what happened back then.
The oral history project initiated by a small number of young people in Gaban was hopefully going to answer questions about this particular settlement and its people in a manner not exaggerating or underestimating real memories. The oral history project hoped to unearth hints to some facts which could inspire sociologists, anthropologists and economists to deepen their future academic research.

Q: In your film, it seems that the oral history project repeats what official history is already telling us. It seems like not that it doesn’t really find out what has been forgotten but what is still remembered. Aren’t those remembered things what the official history allows us to know?

MB: There were contradictory statements in the interviews conducted by youngsters with village elders. Some of the memories were not sufficient enough because first generation witnesses had already passed away. However I think that forgetting is a natural part of our reality and I tried keeping that in mind, yet some of the memories were sharp and clear. Therefore it was quite remarkable to hear why and how Armenians had left that Gaban in 1915; a first hand witness in the village told us some of those stories. I am aware that some of the tetimonies were quite weak and they seemed insignificant but they will be quite important for those who are able and willing to read between the lines of our history because my film is all about a group of people who were forced to live ‘between the lines’.

Q: Can we assume that the reason behind your role as a director "not reminding people about what they don’t tell or are able to tell" is a conscious choice and you did not interfere in the story as an investigative reporter but remained an observer at all times to document the reality in its pure form?

MB: I made a clear decision to use the camera as an observer and keep myself distant from village youngsters and elderly conversations. When I developed the cinemagraphic concept of story-telling for ‘Whispering Memories’? I remained loyal to my initial choice. I wanted to free myself from the role as an investigative reporter and be an observer throughout the filming process. I was curious to know what they remembered about those times, what some had forgotten (or thought they had), and how willing they were to remember things they knew before. The end result was a 42 minute long documentary film, edited out of footage recorded during village conversations and soundbites. A three-day-long Cukurova (a wide and arid plain in the south of Turkey) wedding was also filmed to insert a leitmotiv of the continuation of generations producing more ‘Whispering Memories’–stories derived from race, religion and languages.

Q: There is a nationalist and sexist language in the film. The converts, as most other people who converted or had to convert to survive, are the most conservative ones in their communities.

MB: Yes, exactly. In one instance, there is talk of an Armenian grandmother using the term "that woman" despite a direct genetic link to her Turkish relative. There is a constant marginalisation of those who were different in race, religion or language when they ‘became’ Turkish families. Those behaviours or approaches are typical for the converts. It serves as a separation defence mechanism for those who want to prove they are Turks now. This is common talk among the converts because they constantly know and are reminded they are the ‘other’ in Turkish society. There is a final quote in the film "I am a Turk but I know that I am different though." The word "but" or "still"? is quite important and enriching in terms of multicultural identities. I have a friend whose uncle once gathered all the sons who became 15-16-17 years old and came out to them that their family was converted from being Armenian to Turks and Muslims. Some of these younger family members were very conservative and also Turkish ultra-nationalists so it was hard to reconcile that historic truth–being Armenian–if you think you are now something else–being Turkish. I think we need to make peace with our personal histories and our present reality.

Q: It is obvious in your film that a patriarchal system is still ruling over the families and the community in Geban. How do you explain this?

MB: This is exactly the reason why I picked up the wedding as a leitmotif for my film. The wedding, in its dramaturgical meaning, served as perfect visual material to me but it also illustrated how the girl and the boy were looked at in a rural society. The bride was being married off ‘symbolically’ from the ‘Christian village’? and she was taking away her memoirs by leaving behind her childhood identity and culture.
Moreover, the theatrical play, during the wedding, was typical for the Cukurova region in which a middle-aged man walked from one village to another with a woman and her two daughters looking for ‘appropriate’ grooms. As they arrived in a village the girls would start flirting with the village boys and they would be called "daughters of the infidel". All those words are not incidental. This theatrical play presents many hints to what some Armenian women went through who stayed behind during the atrocities starting in 1915.

Q: Where will your film be shown?

MB: ‘Whispering Memories’ will be broadcasted on CNN Turk, a news channel in Turkey at 21:00 on 11 July 2008. Later, our film will be shown at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, Armenia 13-20 July 2008. We’ve also been invited to Seoul International Film Festival in September.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8449.html

July 22, 2008

23
Exclusive: My boyfriend was murdered in Turkish "honour killing"

by Jessica Wilkins
The body of Ahmet Yildiz, Turkey’s first suspected victim of a gay "honour killing," has been removed from the city morgue. The remains of the 26-year-old physics student had been left there by his family, a move common in "honour killings" cases. In Turkey only family members of the deceased have rights over the body.

While reports say Mr Yildiz’s corpse has been collected, no one knows which family member has claimed it. He was shot leaving a cafe on the Bosphorus strait during the weekend. His body was found in his car. His partner, who held a German passport, left the country on the advice of the consulate. Speaking exclusively to PinkNews.co.uk he said: "Ahmet had been receiving threats for as long as I knew him. He told me this has been going on since his coming out a year ago. When he came out to his parents, who had always suspected, they made him feel guilty about it."

Mr Yildiz’s partner, who asked not to be named as he is in fear of his life, said had he joined his partner for an ice cream on last week, he would have been shot dead himself. "Ahmet had asked me if I wanted to go out for an ice cream. as I had just settled down for the night at Ahmet’s flat, I declined. A couple of minutes later there were burst of loud gunfire outside the flat. I knew immediately that involved Ahmet and rushed out of the flat," he said. I arrived at the scene to see Ahmet’s car reversing out of his parking space, trying to escape. I fought through some onlookers just in time to see him with his eyes open and asked him please don’t die, then he shut his eyes."

Turkish police have yet to launch an investigation into the shooting. Many of Mr. Yildiz’s friends, including his partner, believe his family are involved and murdered him because he was openly gay. "Even before Ahmet came out there was trouble with his family," Mr Yildiz’s bereaved partner said. "When he came out it only got worse." Homophobia in Turkey has always been rife, but according to Mr Yildiz’s partner, it has gotten worse over the last four years.

He describes homophobia in Turkey to be "unbelievably bad." "I can only speak for the Istanbul area but in the countryside it is much worse. In the country honour plays too strong a role for the family," he said. Mr Yildiz’s partner is not optimistic about his chances to bring Ahmet’s murderers to justice. "I know the Turkish system. I know I haven’t got a leg to stand on. Human rights are known and accepted in the West but are not freely available in Turkey. I have no claim to his estate and body and cannot even collect my personal belongings from his flat. I cannot even bury my loved one. Apart from giving my statement to the press, I as an individual have absolutely no chance to bring his parents to justice for this murder of their son and my partner."

Mr Yildiz’s partner has given statements to the police at the site of Ahmet’s murder, as well as handing in a signed statement to the local police station. He fled Turkey the night of Mr Yildiz’s murder and has been living in fear of his life since.

pinknews.co.uk
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8437.html

July 21, 2008

24
Man flees Turkey after "honour killing" of his gay activist boyfriend

by Jessica Wilkins
The partner of murdered gay student Ahmet Yildiz has been forced to flee Turkey in fear of his life. Yildiz, a 26-year-old physics student, was shot leaving a cafe on the Bosphorus strait during the weekend. His body was found in his car. He was believed to be fleeing the attack when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed. His partner, who held a German passport, left the country on the advice of the consulate. He had no rights over his partner’s body, which has been left lying in the city morgue.

The murder is believed by Mr Yildiz’s friends to be an "honour killing" carried out by members of his own family. "From the day I met him, I never heard Ahmet have a friendly conversation with his parents," a close friend told The Independent. "They would argue constantly, mostly about where he was, who he was with, what he was doing." Mr Yildiz’s friends fear that because of his family’s rejection of his sexuality they will not claim the body. His friends have no power to collect the body for burial.

Standing outside the morgue that held Mr Yildiz’s body, a friend of his told The Independent: "We’ve been trying to contact Ahmet’s family since Wednesday, to get them to take responsibility for the funeral. There’s no answer and I don’t think they are going to come." It is common for families of "honour killings" not to collect the body of the victim. In the months leading up to his murder, Mr Yildiz had been to a prosecutor to report death threats he had received. The case was dropped. Ahmet Yildiz represented his country at an international gay gathering in San Francisco in 2007. Sedef Cakmak, a friend and member of gay rights group Lambda said: "He fell victim to a war between old mentalities and growing civil liberties."

Turkey has tried to project a more liberal attitude towards the LGBT community since it began lobbying the European Union for membership status. This year’s gay Pride in Istanbul was the largest ever recorded in the city. The ruling party, Justice and Development Party (AKP) was the first in Turkey’s history to send a deputy to a conference on Gay rights. The AKP has struggled to balance the demands of Turkey’s more liberal population with the conservatives. In May an Istanbul court placed a ban on the country’s largest LGBT civil rights group, Lambda. Woman are usually the victims of "honour killings" and Ahmet Yildiz’s case is considered unique.

advocate.com
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid59255.asp

August 12, 2008

25
Global Gayborhoods: Istanbul

Exotic and familiar to Westerners, Turkey’s cultural epicenter contrasts its historically cosmopolitan character with growing Islamic conservatism. Gay life abounds, but is it going underground?

Outside In
Literally split by the Bosphorus Strait into the "Asia side" and "Europe side," Istanbul is a destination stuck between two poles. Seen from Europe, it is exotic yet within cultural spitting distance. By the same token, it feels foreign to the vast majority of Turkey, a conservative Muslim nation. Despite its deserved reputation as wealthy, secular, and liberal, the former Constantinople faces a rising tide of political conservatism, from the traditional population and the religious government they elected in 2006. This is a particular concern to gay travelers, who can no longer rely on the country’s biggest and most visible gay organization; Lambda Istanbul was closed in April by a government raid under unfounded charges, including promoting prostitution. The climate has by no means shut down Istanbul’s gay life, but it has made resources more difficult to locate, rattling the nerves of out and proud individuals and businesses.

Inside Out
Tricks: Tricks
Western visitors should be on the watch for two troublesome groups. Rent boys hang out in the seedier locations, do not always identify themselves, and can be dangerous. Also common in gay venues are men who sleep with men but do not identify as gay. Generally from lower-income and more traditional backgrounds, these groups tend to see "gayness" as emasculation and will sleep with men only if they are "active" or the penetrating partner, an ancient Mediterranean convention of masculinity. Start your night in sophisticated and newbie-friendly Sugarclub Café (Saka Salim Cikmazi, 3-A, off Istiklal Caddesi; +90-212-425-00-96; 4-6 YTL for drinks, open 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.). The bartenders speak English and are happy to inform you about the city’s gay life. Your next stop should be Barbahçe (Soganci Sokak No. 3/1, off Taksim square; +90-212-245-17-18; 7 YTL for drinks; open 10 p.m.-5 a.m. weekends). The venerable dance club is most well known to tourists, and although locals roll their eyes at Barbahçe (which features go-go boys, good music, and a lesbian section) they all go because it has such staying power. For the newest hot location to party ‘til sunrise, Love Dancepoint (Cumhuriyet Caddesi 349/1; +90-212-296-33-57; 8-10 YTL for drinks; Wednesday, Friday, Saturday; 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.) boasts popular DJs, drag queens, and sexy Istanbul men to boot.

Tips: Sleeping Around
Hidden in Sultanahmet, Ibrahim Pasha (Terzihane Sokak No: 5, Adliye Yani, Sultanahmet; +90-212-518 0394; 85+ Euro) is a tastefully chic, gay-friendly hotel in a century-old building with a rooftop terrace overlooking the Blue Mosque. The Ciragan Palace Kempinski (Ciragan Caddesi 32 Besiktas; + 90 212 326 46 46; 200+ Euro), on the other hand, is a lavish 19th-century Ottoman palace on the banks of the Bosphorus. Massive restorations were completed in 2007, bringing the amenities and service up to modern luxury standards. The in-house historic hammam (Turkish bathhouse) is worth a peek.

Tips: Getting Around
Public transportation in Istanbul is diffused across trams, buses, light rail, metros, trains, funiculars, metrobuses, and ferries. Get a good map or simply board something going your way and disembark when it veers off course. Trams are the most convenient, operating between major sights and using an intuitive token system for fares. Taxis can be a reasonable option if you know how much a trip should cost, as drivers occasionally take advantage of foreigners. At night, they run along set routes with the fare split between carpoolers. The system is efficient and cheap, albeit intimidating at first for non-Turkish speakers. Ferries operate on a handful of lines between the Asian and European sides of Istanbul. Overwhelmingly used by commuters, they can be hellishly packed at rush hours but afford the most stunning and intimate views of sunrise and sunset from the middle of the Bosphorus. Make use of the no-frills on-board cafés if crossing for pleasure.

Tips: Must-sees
Beautifully imposing, the former Byzantine church and Ottoman mosque Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya Square; +90-212-522-17-50; 10 YTL) is an architecturally eclectic testament to Turkey’s multicultural past. Lose yourself in the Grand Bazaar (Sorguçlu Han no. 22, off of Kalpakçilar Caddesi; +90-212-522-31-73), flirting with vendors as they serve you tea and hawk carpets, gold jewelry, hookahs, and anything your heart desires. Finally, make time for the Topkapi Palace (Topkapi, Sultanhamet; +90-212-512-04-80, 10 YTL), if only to view the priceless jewels in the Imperial treasury, and the sumptuous (some would say bloated) robes the well-fed sultans wore.

Daily Queer News
http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/oktem_interv.html?referrer=ukgaynews.org.uk

September 15, 2008

26
Another Struggle: Sexual Identity Politics in Unsettled Turkey

by Kerem Öktem, Middle East Desk
(Kerem Öktem is a fellow at the European Studies Centre of St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford.)

What happens when almost 3,000 men, women and transgender people march down the main street of a major Muslim metropolis, chanting against patriarchy, the military and restrictive public morals, waving the rainbow flag and hoisting banners decrying homophobia and demanding an end to discrimination? Or when a veiled transvestite carries a placard calling for freedom of education for women wearing the headscarf and, for transsexuals, the right to work?

If the city is Istanbul, it seems, nothing much. Apart from the anxious glances of a few young male bystanders caught up in the demonstration and the occasional cheers of onlookers, only the presence of riot police at the Istanbul gay pride parade on June 29, 2008 would have reminded the observer that this was a politically sensitive event in a deeply troubled setting. Yet, in contrast to their aggressive tactics against peaceful demonstrators on May Day, the police were remarkably restrained as well.

June 29 marked the largest gay pride event ever to be held in Turkey, and indeed the largest in the immediate neighborhood of southeast Europe, where similar, if smaller, processions were attacked by right-wing extremists and members of the general public. The march’s dispassionate reception was surprising, particularly considering that it took place as Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by politicians with Islamist origins, faced an existential threat in the country’s highest court. The legal challenge to the AKP’s right to participate in politics, mounted by defenders of the state secularist legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and dismissed by the Constitutional Court on July 31, could have escalated into all-out war over Turkey’s future. Yet no one used the gay pride parade to pose as champions of public morality. There was no hate campaign, and indeed there was benign neglect, in both the Islamist and secular sectors of the mainstream press. Coverage in the left and liberal press was sympathetic; only newspapers close to the extremist Islamist Felicity Party featured a smattering of incitement. Was this an indicator of growing acceptance of gender non-conforming lifestyles in Turkey, a sign of a more tolerant, outward-looking society, affirmation of a more progressive cultural climate?

johannhari.com
http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=395

27
Outcast heroes: the story of gay Muslims: From Britain to Egypt, gay men are stigmatised and attacked. But some are starting to fight back.

Ali Orhan is laughing. We’re sitting in the caff in the Docklands Asda – no expenses spared here at Attitude! – and he is chuckling the most terrible, melancholic chuckle I have ever heard. He is describing a day eighteen years ago when he picked up his parents at Heathrow airport. He was 21 years old, and they were returning from their annual holiday to Turkey. Ali knew he was gay – he had always known – but his sexuality wasn’t flickering across his mind that that summer day, as he stood waiting in the arrivals lounge. He saw them waddling towards him with their suitcases and a strange woman. He waved. He had bought his mother a bunch of flowers. His parents had brought something for him too: a wife.

"Within five days, we were married," he says now, his dark laughter melted away. "It had always been there as I was growing up, I suppose, this knowledge that marriage was compulsory, and that you only had sex within marriage. It was like going through puberty or growing a beard, something that just happened to you. But I was in denial. And then it happened, so suddenly, and I couldn’t see any way out."

Growing up in Britain’s Turkish community in the 1970s, Islam was more a cultural presence than a deep religious commitment. "Religion wasn’t a huge thing in our family. My younger brothers don’t even believe. The only time we discussed faith was when my parents wanted to end an argument: it’s in the Koran. You can’t argue with it. It’s the word of God." And the word of God, it seemed to Ali then, was that Turkish boys marry the girls their parents select for them. "We stayed married for ten months. I never tried to kid myself. She was very attractive, articulate, and a lovely person, but there was no way I was ever going to be attracted to her physically. I knew I was never going to fulfil her or be the husband she deserved, and the guilt was eating me. She had given up everything in Turkey – her whole life – for me, and I had nothing to offer her."

"The one thing I did that I’m proud of in that whole terrible part of my life is that I never consummated the marriage," he continues, in a soft, measured voice. "We shared a bed for ten months but we never had sex. I knew that once we had slept together, she would be seen a ruined goods and she would never be able to marry again. She obviously couldn’t understand my attitude, and began to think there was something wrong with her. She even tried coming on to me, which for a Muslim woman is an incredibly humiliating thing." Ali was so afraid of telling his parents about his sexuality that he tried to make his wife leave him. He got male friends to put lipstick on his collar so she would think he had another woman. He would stay out late without any explanation. Nothing worked.

"Then one night I came home and finally told her I couldn’t ever love her," he says. "There was a phenomenal amount of family and community pressure for us to not get divorced. Getting permission took another three months. Finally my parents gave in, but on one condition: that I take her back to her parents in Turkey and explain why." It was potentially a death-wish: go to a very conservative part of Turkey, and tell a group of religious men that you are divorcing their daughter because you’re gay. Ali went. "My one saving grace in their eyes was that I hadn’t ‘defiled’ her. Because of that, I survived." He lived – but the day he returned, his parents explained that he was no longer their son. They told him bluntly that they never wanted to see him again, not even on their deathbeds.

Nearly two decades later, there is still complete silence from all of his relatives. I ask if he is angry with them. "No," he says, almost surprised by the question. "I had tarnished the whole family’s character: their eldest son wasn’t a man, he hadn’t slept with his wife. I don’t blame them for what they did. It was damage limitation for them within the community. That was their whole world, and if they had stood by me, that world would have come crashing down. They would have been outcasts. What right have I got to ask them to do that? They had to choose between their son or their world."

There is a family eating their dinner two tables away from us. I wish they would leave; I wish Ali never had to see another family again. After such a terrible experience, it would seem natural for Ali to renounce Islam, the religion that seemed to wreck his life. But he explains, "If anything, I’ve become more religious since leaving home. I have a much stronger understanding of my faith now. In times of crisis, it’s my faith I turn to. At my lowest point, when I was first expelled from my world, it was Islam that kept me from the edge. I would have committed suicide without my faith."

"The only thing I have left that identifies me with my family, with my community, with my life before I was disowned, is my religion," he continues. "Nobody can take that away from me. It’s the last shred of the person I used to be." He considers himself today to be a devout Muslim – indeed, more devout than many of the people who cast him out. "It’s not like the Muslim community isn’t aware that there are gay Muslims. But as long as they stay married and only have gay sex on the side, they’re tolerated. I think that’s disgusting, and I wasn’t going to play that game. If I had been a hypocrite, if I had cheated on my wife and actually been a much worse Muslim, then I would still be with my family and my community."

Yet he believes that the Koran does clearly condemn homosexuality. "If there was any pro-gay interpretation, I would have seized on it. The only ammunition I have is that the Koran makes it clear that no Muslim has the right to judge another Muslim. Only Allah has that right." Ten years ago, the words ‘gay’ and ‘Muslim’ seemed like polar opposites, and an out gay Muslim seemed as probable as a black member of the Ku Klux Klan. All of the seven countries that treat homosexuality as a crime punishable by death are Muslim. Of the 82 countries where being gay is a crime, 36 are predominantly Muslim. Even in democratic societies, Islam remains overwhelmingly anti-gay. Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of North America, says "homosexuality is a moral disease, a sin, a corruption… No person is born homosexual, just as nobody is born a thief, a liar or a murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."

Sheikh Sharkhawy, a cleric at the prestigious London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, compares homosexuality to a "cancer tumour." He argues "we must burn all gays to prevent paedophilia and the spread of AIDS," and says gay people "have no hope of a spiritual life." The Muslim Educational Trust hands out educational material to Muslim teachers – intended for children! – advocating the death penalty for gay people, and advising Muslim pupils to stay away from gay classmates and teachers.

But some gay people like Ali have begun to contest this reading of Islam. There have been a small number of groups for gay Muslims over the past twenty years, and their history is not encouraging. A San Francisco-based group called the Lavender Crescent Society sent five members to Iran in 1979 after the Islamic revolution there to spur an Iranian gay movement. They were taken straight from the airport to a remote spot and shot dead. Gay Iranians went underground straight after. Even in the West, a Toronto-based group called Min-Alaq was formed in the early 1990s but closed down after fundamentalists threatened to murder all its members.

And then came Al-Fatiha. With seven branches across the United States and offices in London, Johannesburg and Toronto, these gay Muslims ain’t going to shut up or scuttle away. They are here and they are fighting. The group – whose name is taken from a Koranic term meaning ‘the beginning’ or ‘the opening’ – was set up in 1997 by Faisal Alam. Faisal, now 27, arrived in Connecticut from Pakistan when he was 10 years old. In an unfamiliar rural area with "more cows than people", he explains, he found his faith a source of comfort and inspiration. He became very active in the local mosque and a leader in his Muslim youth group. Yet when he was sixteen he began to realise something was wrong – "something I didn’t have a word for."

He started a relationship with an older male convert to Islam, but it fizzled out and – in the classic gay Muslim pattern – he became engaged to a very religious woman. Fortunately, she broke it off after a year because "she had a feeling in her heart that something was deeply wrong." When he started college, Faisal embarked on a dual existence: the good Muslim boy by day and the gay boy by night. His parents found out about his sexuality when someone copied some of his internet messages to a gay chat-line and distributed them at his family’s mosque. "My mom’s first reaction was to say, ‘You can’t be a Muslim any more,’" he explains.

Nineteen and desolate, he sent out an e-mail that started an avalanche. "Is anyone out there a gay Muslim?" he asked in a discussion list linking Muslim student societies across the US. Most of the responses were filled with revulsion – "There is no such thing as a gay Muslim!" they howled. But there was a trickle saying, "I though I was the only one." As a network for those people – and for gay Muslims across the globe – he established al Fatiha. "The Muslim community as a whole is in complete and utter denial about homosexuality," he explains. "The conversation hasn’t even begun. We are about 200 years behind Christianity in terms of progress on gay issues. Homosexuality is still seen as a Western disease that infiltrates Muslim minds and societies."

He admits that al Fatiha is dealing with troubled, torn people. "For each of us, it’s a struggle. Probably 90 to 99 percent of gay Muslims who have accepted their sexuality leave the faith. They don’t see the chance for a reconciliation. They are two identities of your life that are exclusive." One gay man – who asked not to be named – summarised this belief that the two poles of his identity could never meet: "It’s a choice between praying and sucking cock," he said. "You can’t do both."

Yet Faisal is trying to articulate a pro-gay Islam. He believes that the homophobia of most contemporary Muslims is based not on their faith but on their culture, and there is a surprising amount of scholarly research to back him up. The punishment for almost all crimes is laid out very clearly in the Koran – 100 lashes for fornication, for example – but there is no punishment mentioned for homosexuality anywhere. There is one passage that is often interpreted as legally forbidding homosexuality, but it is comparatively mild: "And as for the two of you who are guilty thereof, punish them both. And if they repent and improve, then let them be. Lo! Allah is merciful."

There are seven references in the Koran to the "people of Lut" – named ‘Lot’ in the Christian and Jewish holy texts – which is a town destroyed for the immorality of its men. But the conventional interpretation – that this ‘immorality’ took the form of gay sex – is increasingly being contested. Mushin Hendriks, an American Muslim scholar and a gay man, claims that the story of Lut "sees God destroying men because of male rape, sodomy and promiscuity. But there is a difference between sodomy and homosexuality, between rape and love. The story says nothing about homosexual love."

During the Prophet Mohammed’s lifetime, there was not a single recorded case of a punishment or execution for homosexuality. It is only two generations after Mohammed, under the third Caliph, Omar, that a gay man was burned alive for his ‘crime’. Even then, it was fiercely debated, and many scholars argued that this was contrary to the traditions of the Prophet.

Several scholars and historians have proven that homosexuality was fairly common at the time of the Prophet. They have also shown that at certain points in history gay people were much more tolerated – and indeed, sometimes celebrated – in Muslim societies than in Europe. Before the twentieth century, the regions of the world with the most prominent and diverse gay behaviours on display were in northern Africa and southwestern Asia – Muslim lands. The current gay-hating, homo-cidal climate in Muslim countries is a fairly recent invention.

Look, for example, at the homoerotic poetry that flourished in Spain after the Muslim conquest in 711. This is stuff that wouldn’t be out of place in the porn section of Clonezone: "I gave him what he asked for, made him my master/ My tears streamed out over the beauty of his cheeks" and so on. Or how about the ninth century Caliph of Baghdad, who "gave himself over entirely to dissipated pleasure in the company of his eunuchs and refused to take a wife"?

These pockets of gay freedom persisted in some areas right up to the early twentieth century, when Victorian colonial influence started to erode their tolerance away. For example, the oasis town of Siwa, located in the Libyan desert of Western Egypt, sounds like something from a Bel Ami movie. The anthropologist Walter Cline described it in the 1930s: "All normal Muslim Siwan men and boys practice sodomy. Among themselves the natives are not ashamed of this; they talk about it as openly as they talk about love of women and many, if not most, of their fights arise from homosexual competition."

Another visitor, the archaeologist Count Bryron de Prorock reported "an enthusiasm that could not have been approached even in Sodom. Homosexuality was not only rampant, it was raging." Men would marry each other with great ceremony, and this was only stamped out – by non-Muslims – in the 1930s.

Al Fatiha is not as mad a project, then, as it might initially seem. Along with the homophobic strands, there have been strands in Muslim thought for a very long time encouraging tolerance of gay people; they have simply died away. Today, there are some groups who are prepared to kill in order to prevent a pro-gay Islam from being revived. In 2001, Al Mujharoun – a fanatical British-based fundamentalist group who believe in establishing "the Muslim Republic of Great Britain" – issued a fatwa against Al Fatiha. They said any member of Al-Fatiha is an apostate (traitor to the Muslim faith), and the punishment for apostasy is death.

Faisal refuses to be intimidated. "We’re challenging 1,400 years of dogma. There’s bound to be a battle," he explains. Ali has had death threats too. A group of black-clad men even turned up at his flat one night "to make it very clear that if I wanted a quiet life I should shut up about being gay." I asked if he considered being quiet. "No, I moved," he laughs.

Despite the threat of violence, at least in democratic societies gay Muslims can wrestle with their dual identity. For most of the 50 million gay Muslims in the world, this isn’t an option. They are more likely to be worried about avoiding imprisonment or even execution. For example, when 52 gay men were recently arrested and jailed for attending an unofficial gay club in Egypt, even the Egypt Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) refused to condemn their prison sentences. EOHR’s Secretary-General, Hafez Abu Saada, said, "Personally, I don’t like the subject of homosexuality, and I don’t want to defend them."

In Lebanon, one of the more free countries in the Middle East, a popular weekly TV programme – Al Shater Yahki – discusses sexuality and includes gay voices. Even there, every gay person speaks from behind a mask, or they would risk being killed.

Marianne Duddy, executive director of Dignity/USA, the oldest and largest gay Catholic organisation, explains, "In many ways, Al-Fatiha and the first wave of gay Muslims exactly parallel where gay Catholics were 25 to 30 years ago. Our first five years were just about putting the words ‘gay’ and ‘Catholic’ in the same sentence. I pray they have a very deep faith." And even now, the Catholic Church is hardly a model of tolerance. The Pope describes gay marriage as "evil", calls on gay people to be celibate, and has acted at the United Nations to block protection of the human rights of gay people. But things are far better than they were for gay Christians. Gay Jews have made incredible progress, with the largest group of rabbis in America openly endorsing gay marriage.

Yes, the fight for tolerance within Islam is going to be very long and very painful. There will be many more casualties. But one day the beheading of gay men in the Middle East and the internal exile of men like Ali will be remembered the way we remember the burning of witches today. When that day comes, men like Ali Orhan and Faisal Alam will be seen as heroes.

From: Kaos-gl; http://news.kaosgl.com/

November 12, 2008

28
Protest the murder of a Turkish Transgender in Ankara, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey – LGBT Rights Platform held a protest and delivered a press release on November 12, 2008 in Ankara, Turkey to condemn the murder of transsexual Dilek Ince. She was murdered in a shotgun attack in Ankara on November 10, 2008. Dilek Ince was buried on November 12, 2008. After the funeral service, a press release was delivered in front of the Human Rights Monument in Ankara.

LGBT Rights Platform – Press Release

Gay and transsexual murders are political – We now the killers! Shame on your morality soiled with gay and transsexual blood! We are in sorrow and anger. We are in deep sadness, because one of our friends has been a victim of the heterosexist hate and murdered once again. Transsexual Dilek Ince, who has been attacked with a shotgun on 10 November 2008, died on 11 November 2008. We are in anger, because we came here from a cemetery. We are in great anger because we cannot know which gay or transsexual friend of ours is the next. Who killed transsexual Dilek Ince in a shotgun attack? And will the murderers be found? Who killed gay individual Ahmet Yildýz with a machine gun? And why could Istanbul Police Department not find the attackers?

Who forced Ege Tanyurek, a young gay person, to commit suicide in Adiyaman? We are in fear and fright! We would like to know if gay and transsexuals are not citizens according to Mr. Prime Minister? Isn’t it a crime to discriminate citizens? We want to know if the police will find the murderers? If prosecutors and judges will give up freeing the killers under grievous provocation. We are in fear and freight because we do not know how many other gays and transsexuals will be killed by the Prime Minister’s citizens who “got out of patience.” We want to know if Mr. Prime Minister will create a just and peaceful society by consternating and disquieting. We will not change, you will get used to it! We knocked your doors, we screamed, we wore shrouds, do you think we are playing a game? We are being killed just because we are gay or transsexual. We are looking for justice and we cannot find it.

What we want is not too much; it is only not to be killed because of our sexual orientation and gender identities. How long will you watch us being killed by empowering homophobic and transphobic hate? Hitler sealed us with pink triangles and killed us in holocaust, but could not destroy us. You, the watchers! Do you think that you will be able to destroy gays and transsexuals through hunting one by one? We announce it! Gay and transsexual murders are political – We now the killers! We will not let it go! Shame on your morality soiled with gay and transsexual blood!

Issued by LGBT Rights Platform (Note: LGBT Rights Platform is composed of LBGT organizations and initiatives in Turkey)
—
Kaos GL is a LGBT organization and a legally registered non-governmental organization that publishes a bi-monthly magazine to completely cover Turkey. Please refer any questions to: news@kaosgl.com and refer to the web site for information: http://news.kaosgl.com/

irqr.net
http://www.irqr.net/English/169.htm

November 27, 2008

29
Iran’s gay exiles seek help in Turkey
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10466609.asp?gid=244

Istanbul – Gays, lesbians and transsexuals suffer discrimination throughout the world, but in Iran, the difficulties are compounded by the government’s denial of their very existence. "There are no gays in Iran" was the statement made in New York last year by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in response to a question on the difficulties gays faced in Iran. It was met with incredulous smiles from the American audience he was addressing, but certainly could not have been more hurtful to the gays of his country.

Aside from negative social reactions toward people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, the Islamic government of Iran recognizes homosexual intercourse as a "crime," penalized, at worst with the death penalty, at best a whipping. This is why Iranian LGBTs, like many other oppressed groups, are looking for ways to flee their home country and many use Turkey as a temporary stop, until their asylum applications elsewhere are approved.

Arsham Parsi, an Iranian gay rights activist and founder of the Canada-based organization "Iranian Queer Railroad," tries to help asylum-seeking Iranian LGBTs during the lengthy and often painful asylum process. As he was a refugee himself in the past, Parsi knows personally the difficulties Iranian homosexuals endure while trying to escape, having experienced it first hand on his own "trip" from Iran to Canada, through Turkey. The name of his organization is inspired from "The Underground Railroad," which was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses for black slaves, who wanted to flee the southern United States in the 19th century.

"In 2001, two of my gay friends committed suicide, as their families found out about their sexual orientation. I decided then to found an organization for LGBTs." Parsi told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on Thursday, after completing a visit to some central Anatolian provinces where most Iranian LGBT asylum seekers are to be found. Parsi left Iran in 2005 and came to Kayseri, in central Anatolia, after he realized that Iranian police were looking for him because of his LGBT activities. "Turkey and Iran do not require visas for trips between them and transportation between the two countries is easy. We have buses everyday and also trains and planes," Parsi said. Currently there are around 160 Iranian LGBTs refugees throughout the world, 100 of who are in Turkey.

One of the most significant problems faced by Iranian refugees is a financial problem, Parsi said. These people, mainly young Iranians in their early 20s, meet with poverty after they run away. They need money for food, shelter and health care. Mistreatment from local residents, and sometimes from security forces, also makes their lives difficult. "They are beaten up for being homosexual and when they call police officers they do not let them file a compliant," Parsi said. "When I was in Kayseri, I was attacked and called the police. They asked me why I was outside and told me to stay at home." Locals and police are not gay-friendly, Parsi said. For instance, finding a house in the city is difficult, as landlords do not rent houses to single people. LGBTs then, try to find a gay-friendly couple and rent a house through them. It is also difficult to find jobs if they decide to work because they do not have a work permit. "They look for jobs like dish-washing or waiting. They work for almost a month and are then dismissed without being paid," Parsi said. Parsi, however, is also grateful to the Turkish government for allowing refugees to stay in Turkey.

The authorities settle refugees in Anatolian provinces such as Kayseri, Isparta, Konya and Nigde, which are known as conservative cities. The majority of LGBT Iranians stay in Kayseri, which is very conservative, although Isparta is a little bit better because the number of university students is high among the town’s population, Parsi said. "I tell my fellows that Turkey is a secular country, but the people are religious, whereas Iran has a religious government but Iranians are secular," Parsi said, comparing the two countries.

Needing a sister organization
Parsi said there was a need for a sister organization in Turkey to support LGBT Iranians. He is familiar with both Kaos GL and LAMBDA Istanbul, two leading Turkish LGBT organizations. More efficient cooperation is needed, however, to ease bureaucratic processes, increase financial assistance to refugees and support their health care needs. "I also considered registering an ’Iranian Queer Railroad’ in Turkey," Parsi said.

To: GlobalGayz.com

November 30, 2008

30
Request to ban Turkish gay rights group rejected

An official demand to ban Lambda Istanbul, a LGBT organization located in Istanbul, was rejected on November 28, 2008 allowing them to continue to operate. The decision was hailed by the Turkish gay rights activists. However there were also widespread criticisms since there were similar attempts to close down various LGBT organizations in the past and they all failed. Activists questioned why Istanbul 3rd Principle Court had decided to close the organization down despite the expert opinion supporting them and previous precedents.

Lambda Istanbul was founded in 1993 and registered as an association in May 2006, aiming to support all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to adopt equality as a value. It has actively lobbied for legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The group is Turkey’s oldest LGBT organization, and has organized Gay Pride marches in that city every year since 2003. The Office of the Governor of Istanbul demanded Lambda Istanbul’s closure in July 2007, claiming the name and objectives of the group were offensive to Turkish “moral values and its family structure.”

A department of the Istanbul Governor’s office responsible for non-governmental organizations alleged that the group, Lambda Istanbul, violates Turkish laws on morality. They claimed that Lambda violates both the Penal Code, as an association in violation of "law and morals," and Article 41 of the Turkish constitution, which is concerned with "the peace and welfare of the family." The first trial took place on July 19, 2007. During the first trial, the local Prosecutor’s Office rejected the complaint and favored Lambda Istanbul, However the Governor’s Office took the case to the courts.

The city government then appealed to court and there have been a number of hearings in the Beyoglu 3rd Civil Court of First Instance. On May 29, 2008, the Third Civil Court of First Instance in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul ruled in favor of a complaint brought by the Istanbul Governor’s Office, and ordered the closing of Lambda Istanbul. The judgment referred to article 17 of the Law on Associations and article 60/2 of the Civil Code, which taken together provide for closure of associations if they do not “remedy errors and deficiencies” in their statutes. But the court’s judgment did not specify these “deficiencies.” The proceedings made no reference to these articles before this last hearing on May 29. Neither the Governor’s Office nor the judge or prosecutor raised any such deficiencies in the statutes during previous hearings.

Lambda Istanbul appealed the decision at the Court of Appeal (Yargitay). On November 28, 2008, the Court of Appeal rejected the official demand to shut down Lambda Istanbul.

Similar Closure Threats To (3) Other LGBT Organizations In Turkey In The Past: Government officials have made similar legal moves to shut down other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations in Turkey but all failed. Kaos GL, based in Ankara, faced a demand for closure from Ankara’s deputy governor in September 2005. The closure petition was dismissed by prosecutors in October 2005. Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association (known as Kaos GL) is Turkey’s first official LGBT rights association established in 1994 in Ankara. Similarly, the Ankara Governor’s Office attempted in July 2006 to close the human rights group Pembe Hayat (Pink Life), which works with transgender people, claiming to prosecutors that the association opposed “morality and family structure.” Later on prosecutors dropped the charges.

Also in October 2006, in the city of Bursa, The Public Prosecutor’s Office has formally rejected the appeal to close down the Association to Protect Transvestites, Transsexuals, Gays and Lesbians and Develop Cultural Activities – known shortly as The Rainbow Association (Gokkusagi Dernegi). The decision comes in response to an initiative made by the Bursa Governorship to have the association disbanded and locked down on grounds that the formation violated current association laws that governed no association could be founded with intentions against the law or public morality.

Another Positive Court Decision In October 2008:
Another positive development was an Istanbul court decision on October 2008. A suspect caught selling films of group and gay sex was judged by an Istanbul court not to have been selling material portraying “unnatural sex” and was sentenced only for sale of illegal pornographic material.

The Turkish Penal Code demands higher penalties for the sale of movies that include “unnatural” intercourse. The court sentenced the suspect on the lesser charge of selling pornographic films in an illegal location. In its verdict, the Istanbul court said: “Most European countries have given gay relationships the equivalence of marriage, and in Holland gay marriages were made legal a few years back. In a world of modern societies, it is not possible to say intercourse among members of the same sex is unnatural.” The verdict also read: “Since the action happens in private places and does not include children it is not criminal. The term ‘unnatural sexual behavior’ should be seen from a narrow perspective; otherwise there is the risk of judging every sexual relationship outside of certain limitations unnatural. It is without doubt that the images are eccentric. Although this kind of sexual activity is not common in societies, it is a fact that in every society collective sexual relationships exist.”

Press Release By The LGBT Rights Platform
The Decision to Close Down Lambda Istanbul was Overturned!
November 28, 2008
Our process towards becoming an official association that started in May 2006 was carried to the court due to Istanbul Governor’s Office’s decision that our name and our constitution is against the law, morality and Turkish family values. We survived six hearings, and Istanbul 3rd Principle Court has decided to close us down despite the expert opinion supporting us. Today, our case was heard at the Supreme Court of Appeals. As witnesses to a late-arriving justice we shout out that our organizing is not immoral.

True, justice arrived quite late. A similar criminal complaint was filed against our sibling associations in Ankara, Kaos GL and Pembe Hayat (Pink Life), by Ankara Governor’s Office, claiming that they were against the law, morality and Turkish family values. However, things worked out differently in their case, and the local courts and prosecution office decided not to close down these associations -a decision that is opposed to the decision made by Istanbul 3rd Principle Court.

How come there are two opposing verdicts based on the same law?
We repeat: Decisions influenced by prejudices will remain inevitable, and inequality, discrimination and intense human rights violations will prevail as long as “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are not added to the equality clause of the constitution.

Yet finally, justice has arrived. We are stronger now with the overturn of the decision to close down Lambda Istanbul LGBT Solidarity Association. As people who face violence, who get expelled from our jobs, who are excluded and isolated, who are denied their legal rights, our voices will now multiply; and as the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement we will be louder when we shout out our right to equality.

Issued by The LGBT Rights Platform
Note: LGBT Rights Platform is composed of various LGBT organizations and initiatives in Turkey which are stated below:
Izmir Transvestite and Transsexual Initiative, Izmir, Turkey
Kaos GL Association, Ankara, Turkey
Kaos GL Izmir Formation, Izmir, Turkey
Lambda Istanbul LGBT Solidarity Association, Istanbul, Turkey
Mor EL Eskisehir LGBT Formation, Eskisehir, Turkey
Pembe Hayat LGBT Solidarity Association, Ankara, Turkey
Piramid LGBT Diyarbakir Formation, Diyarbakir, Turkey

—
Kaos GL is a LGBT organization and a legally registered non-governmental organization that publishes a bi-monthly magazine to completely cover Turkey. Please refer any questions to: news@kaosgl.com and refer to the web site for information: http://news.kaosgl.com/

From: Arsham Parsi, Executive Director IRanian Queer Railroad – IRQR
<info@irqr.net>

December 17, 2008

31
Executive Director Report for the IRQR Board of Directors

I went to Turkey on October 28, 2008 to work on individual refugee cases for the IRanian Queer Railroad. I traveled to Kayseri, Nigde, Isparta and Koniya to meet Iranian queer asylum seekers. I spent hours listening to their stories about fleeing from Iran and talking about their current situation in Turkey. On November 18, I met with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara. I wrote an update report for the IRQR and presented it to UNHCR office. I traveled with some asylum seekers to Ankara in order to help them as much as possible. The IRQR is dealing with some urgent cases involving individuals living in very difficult circumstances in Turkey.

One of them was Peyman, a 26 year-old gay Iranian who fled from Iran to Turkey 13 months ago. He is in a very bad financial and emotional situation, minimizing his expenses by living with five other refugees in a small apartment located in a poor area of the city. Neli is a 38 year-old male to female transgender who fled from Iran to Turkey 14 months ago. Neli is not in a very good emotional state and needs support. Naval is an 18 year-old male to female transgender who is living with a sibling, Tarmin, a 21 year-old female to male transgender. Both of them are in terrible situation and they need support.

So far, the IRQR has not been able to help them financially because of its limited resources but we are looking for a way to help them.Hossein and Shayan are an Iranian gay couple who have been waiting for about 5 months. Their families do not know where they are located because the couple fled without giving any notice. They are emotionally distraught and facing hardship. Fortunately, a few days after meeting with the IRQR, Peyman, Naval and Neli, Hossein and Shayan were all recognized as refugee by the UNHCR in Ankara. But there are many more people waiting for their application to be processed and the IRQR is striving to help them urgently. Neli told me that the "IRQR helped me a lot, they changed my life. Now after 14 months of stress, I can be hopeful that one day I will be in Canada. On that day, I will try to support the IRQR to help our queer brothers and sisters."

Peyman says: "I do not know how I should thank you for all the IRQR help. One more step is over now and I have to wait for the Canadian Embassy interview which I don’t know when it is. I hope they call me soon because my financial state does not allow me to wait for a long period of time. I should leave Turkey as quick as possible because I have to pay Turkish temporary residency fee for every single day that I am here and I do not have money."

I am so pleased to note the progress. The situation has improved since the time when I was recognized as a refugee. A special thanks should be expressed to the UNHCR staff members who are working hard on refugee cases. It not easy to deal with thousands of refugees but they are very supportive and effective. Also, I wish to thank John and all of our sponsors who
supported us and paid all of my travel expenses.
———
Arsham Parsi
Executive Director IRanian Queer Railroad – IRQR www.irqr.net info@irqr.net
(001) 416-548-4171

Gay Turkey News & Reports 2007-08

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