DESPITE TURKEY’S REFORMS, GAY COMMUNITY SAYS IT LACKS LEGAL PROTECTIONS

The Associated Press
International Herald tribune, France
May 2 2007

ANKARA, Turkey: 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.

"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.

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.