LGBTI+ activists from Turkey spoke at Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee

LGBTI+ activists from Turkey spoke at Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee

• 01/02/2022
• ÜniKuir

The agenda of the Committee in which the executive directors of UniKuir, Balkan and Gür, were speakers consisted of the violations of LGBTI+ rights.

(Translation: Alican Nazik)

Parliamentarians of Europe and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) exchanged their opinions with the representatives of the European Council and European External Action Service (EEAS) on the current condition of EU-Turkey relations in the first session of the meeting which began at 16:00 (UTC+3).

Guests: LGBTI+ Activists from Turkey

The first speaker of the meeting’s second session in which the LGBTI+ activists from Turkey were hosted was the activist Marsel Tuğkan Gündoğdu, who works as Turkey Research Consultant in ILGA Europe. Gündoğdu draw attention to recently increasing statements and practices towards polarisation in addition to the problems LGBTI+s face in accessing their fundamental rights because of discrimination worldwide. They stated that LGBTI+ existence is not stated constitution-wise, making LGBTI+s invisible in law as a consequent.

The LGBTI+ activist showed the approval of the “Bill for the Preventing the Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as an example; and stated that similarly, the oppression on NGOs in Turkey has increased, harming the civil society, the fundamental rights and liberties. Gündoğdu called the government to take the necessary steps to enable LGBTI+s access to their constitutional rights. They reminded the government’s responsibilities in preventing the discrimination of the LGBTI+ people, preserving the right to assembly and demonstration, and recognizing the rights of equal citizenship. 

“We follow the attempts to associate LGBTI+ activism with terrorism with great sorrow”

One of the executive directors of UniKuir, Özgür Gür, took the floor after Gündoğdu. Gür began to speak by stating that they hope the EU will raise its voice against the systematic oppression LGBTI+ face in Turkey just like it did against the hate speeches towards the LGBTI+s in Poland or Hungary. 

Gür said that they follow the criminalization of LGBTI+s, and even attempts to associate LGBTI+ activism with terrorism with great sorrow and underlined that the data they ground on while summarising the oppression and violence LGBTI+s face are provided by LGBTI+ organizations in Turkey only and that the government does not collect any data on LGBTI+s.

“I would like to underline that even the applications made to obtain information on this subject to the government remain unanswered. Although we estimate that the actual figures regarding discrimination against LGBTI+s are hundreds of times higher. However, we can see that even these figures are higher than any other country in Europe.”

“The government is trying to manipulate the society to increase LGBTI+phobia”

Gür stated that the government is trying to manipulate the society to increase LGBTI+phobia by abusing the government's state apparatus and authority, continuing their speech with exemplifying some of the hate speeches and crimes LGBTI+s face in Turkey. They reminded the hate speech by the Head of the Religious Affairs, Ali Erbaş, who stated that there is a relation between homosexuality and the pandemic; and showed that this statement was not only made through religious institutions but supported by state officials, including the highest level officials.

Gür said that some bar associations that criticized these hate speeches faced investigations, and reminded that sermons showing LGBTI+s as deviants were delivered in all mosques in Turkey after the Pride March that took place in June 2021.

Gür presented that the Minister of Interior plays an important role in the systematic oppression of the LGBTI+s, as the Minister mentions LGBTI+s within the scope of the fight against terrorism. They continued their speech by criticizing the censor policy of the Radio and Television Higher Council on programmes that include LGBTI+ representations on television. In addition to this, Gür gave the censor policy of selling LGBTI+ or rainbow themed products with a mandatory +18 warning by the Ministry of Commerce with an excuse like the protection of children as another example. 

“LGBTI+ issues should be included wherever there is a discussing of human rights” 

Özgür Gür stated that while LGBTI+s’ freedom of expression is restricted, hate speech against LGBTI+s is tried to be acquitted within the scope of freedom of expression by the power-holders within the country. They mentioned the circular published by the Presidency that states it will protect the children and the young with necessary measures even though it is not clear to what these measures will be taken against in their protection, reminding that some broad scoped measures were taken so as to implement LGBTI+ bans. Gür also underlined that even though the METU Pride March is acquitted recently, the attacks on the right to assemble and demonstrate still continue.

Gür closed their speech with a call to the EU, saying that the EU should commit to being in touch in order to see the condition of LGBTI+s in Turkey and that LGBTI+ issues should be included wherever there is a discussing of human rights.

The murder of Hande Buse Şeker is reminded

Melike Balkan, the executive director of UniKuir who attended the meeting as the third spokesperson began their speech by reminding that the law does not protect LGBTI+s. They gave the murder of the trans woman Hande Buse Şeker in İzmir as an example and indicated that the court overlooked the fact that this was a hate crime and did not punish the murderer with qualified murder in first degree. 

They underlined that Turkey’s statements in the international arena do not match with the oppression LGBTI+s face in the country and any LGBTI+ event can be targeted quite easily, depriving LGBTI+s of their fundamental rights like freedom of speech or peaceful protest.

“LGBTI+ students do not feel safe in their campuses” 

The executive director Balkan gave Boğaziçi protests as an example to show that the hate speeches and attacks that do not see judicial process are supported by the government. They reminded that there are students going through investigations just because they carried rainbow flags or attended the protests in campus and the LGBTI+ studies club of the Boğaziçi University, BÜLGBTİA+, was closed after being targeted by the government. 

Balkan quoted from the ongoing researches and reports of UniKuir, showing that students feel unsafe in their schools because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. They also stated that the example in Boğaziçi protests where LGBTI+ students were targeted feeds the anti-LGBTI+ propaganda, which intends to label LGBTI+ activism as related to terrorism. They reminded that the effort to relate LGBTI+ advocacy to terrorism is not new and that they were taken into custody along with Özgür Gür and were kept in a cell in 2019 because of an alleged membership in a terrorist organization. 

“We deserve to live without fear”

Balkan mentioned the recent examples of death threats as well as legal investigations towards LGBTI+ activists who said that LGBTI+ children and young exist and pointed out that rhetoric on child abuse is used as a tool to sway public opinion in the country by the highest levels of the government as well as far-right groups and parties.

After talking about the discrimination against intersex children, nonbinary and trans+ people, Balkan called the international authorities and community to take a strong stance against the violation of human rights in Turkey; and called the Turkish government to stop targeting LGBTI+s in addition to being inclusive for LGBTI+s in its laws: “There is a strong LGBTI+ community in Turkey, and we deserve to live without fear.”

Q and A 

After the statements of the speakers, questions from the parliamentarians were answered. Balkan answered the question “What did the differentiation of local authorities such as mayors in major cities change for the LGBTI+s?” by reminding that the right to assembly and protest is violated by the governates and that they are appointed by the President, making no difference in consequence. 

They answered the question whether they feel safe or not by stating that they do not: “I do not feel safe, I know that I may be taken into custody at 6 in the morning with a house break whenever I give a speech like I did today. But this condition is not unique to me, all LGBTI+s feel this way and no one is safe.” The activist Marsel Tuğkan Gündoğdu responded to the Greek parliamentarian who asked the question by stating that the political atmosphere will pass and the hate towards LGBTI+s is present in every society, saying that “I do not feel in danger any less than an LGBTI+ in Greece.” For the question about the university administration, Balkan reminded that rectors are not elected but appointed and showed how these appointments harm the universities with the example of the non-functional unit for the prevention of sexual harassment and assault that was forced to be non-functional in Boğaziçi University. “But we will fight against this with the student clubs!” 

What is Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee?

Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee is an auditing body that is established to audit the relations between Turkey and the European Union. The committee is responsible for Turkey’s accession process to EU and works for strengthening the relations between the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the European Parliament. The committee’s co-presidents are Sergey Lagodinsky and İsmail Emrah Karayel.