LGBTQ rights in Turkey
The human rights of LGBT people in Turkey is one of the more controversial human rights issues in Turkey. As Turkey is a secular republic that seeks membership in the European Union, homosexuality is not technically illegal, but it remains a taboo topic in a nation where most people are Muslim.
Civilian Criminal Code
Gay sexual conduct between consenting adults in private is not a crime. The age of consent for heterosexual conduct is fifteen, while the age of consent for homosexual conduct is eighteen years old. However, adultery was a crime until the law was repealed in 2005 by the parliament. The European Union may require the age of consent to be revised to be the same for homosexuals and heterosexuals as it did with Cyprus.
Turkish towns and cities are given some leeway to enact various "public morality" laws. For example, It was once reported that in Adana male homosexuals are prohibited from kissing in public. However, there has been no evidence of enforcement of this regulation. Men kissing as a form of greeting is common in Turkey.
Articles 428 and 428 prohibit "obscene" and "indecent" books, songs, literature, etc [1]. Although the extent that these conditions apply to homosexual themes in the media has been liberalized in recent years. The film Brokeback Mountain was permitted to be shown in select theaters, but the Turkish Culture Ministry ruled that no one under the age of eighteen may be in the audience [2]. Several books with gay themes have been published recently including 'Volkan's story' - about a gay policeman. Bestsellers often include gay characters.
The criminal code also has vaguely worded prohibitions on "public exhibitionism,” and “offenses against public morality" that are used to harass gay and transgender people.
Military Law
Turkish military law bans homosexuals from military service as a mental illness, and those homoesxuals discovered to be gay in the armed forces will face 3 to 6 months imprisonment and then will be discharged.
Antidiscrimination Law
No laws exist in Turkey that protect LGBT from discrimination in employment, education, housing, health care, public accommodations or credit.
Family Law
Turkey does not recognise same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic partnership benefits. The Turkish Supreme Court has ruled that homosexuals should not have custody of children.
LGBT Civil Rights
The two major LGBT community-based civil rights organizations are The Lambda Istanbul, and the KAOS GL. When these groups first became organized in the 1990s the Government Human Rights Commission refused to work with them, but recently has allowed them to participate in AIDS-HIV education programs and May Day parades.
In 2006 the Lambda Istanbul was evicted from its building, when the landlady learned that the organization was promoting LGBT rights.
LGBT History
The 1980 the military coup invalidated the 1961 Constitution and shut down gay rights organizations and harassed gay and transgender people. Turkish LGBT rights activists created the Radical Democrat Green Party to camapign for on a left-wing Green platform that included support for LGBT human rights. Several of its members participated in a hungar strike in 1987 to protest the police harassment of LGBT citizens.
In 1988 the civil code was amended to allow for transgender people to have a sex change operation, under medical approval. In the 1990s the LGBT movement fought against government bans on LGBT conferences, which promopted the creation of Lambda Istanbul, and in 1994 the newly created The Freedom and Solidarity Party banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity within its party, the first transgender candidate for office was nominated by this party.
In 1996 The Supreme Court overturned a lower court's ruling and removed a child from her lesbian parent, on the grounds that homosexuality is immoral. While bias motivated violence against gay and trasngender people intesified as did efforts at government censorship, the desire of Turkey to join the European Union has forced the government to grant official recognition to LGBT rights organizations, respect a greater degree of the freedom of speech and the press and to entertain gay rights legislation.