Drag Queen Seyhan Arman from Turkey
Penal Code:
Military Law:
Discrimination Protections:
- Gay sexual conduct between consenting adults in private is not a crime in Turkey. The age of consent for both heterosexual and
homosexual sex is 18. 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. Turkish towns and cities are given some leeway to enact various "public morality" laws. For example, it was once reported that in Adana males were prohibited from kissing in public, on the cheek. - Men kissing as a form of greeting is common in Turkey. In 2013 in a court in Istanbul, in a case of a vendor charged with unlawful sale of 125 DVDs depicting gay and roup sex pornography, Judge Mahmut Erdemli ruled that gay sex is "natural",
stated that an individual’s sexual orientation should be respected, and cited examples of same-sex marriages in Europe and in the Americas.However, in 2012 the appellate court had said video or photographic depictions of gay sex were “unnatural.”
Military Law:
- In Turkey, compulsory military service applies to all male Turkish citizens between the ages of 18 and 41. However, the Turkish military openly discriminates against passive homosexuals by barring them from serving in the military. Active homosexuals and bisexuals can serve in Turkish military. At the same time, Turkey – in violation of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights – withholds any recognition of conscientious objection to military service. Some objectors must instead identify themselves as “sick” – and are forced to undergo what Human Rights Watch calls "humiliating and degrading" examinations to “prove” their homosexuality.
In October 2009 the report of the EU Commission on Enlargement stated:
The Turkish armed forces have a health regulation which defines homosexuality as a ‘psychosexual’ illness and identifies homosexuals as unfit for military service. Conscripts who declare their homosexuality have to provide photographic proof (a photograph of the person on the receiving end of anal intercourse). A small number have had to undergo humiliating medical
examinations.
Discrimination Protections:
- No laws exist yet in Turkey that protect LGBT people from discrimination in employment, education, housing, health care, public accomodations or credit
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals are among the most vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey today.
- In August 2013, four major political parties in the parliament including The Kurds, secularists, conservatives and nationalists,
has agreed to provide constitutional protection against discrimination for LGBT. The draft awaits to be enacted.
- Turkey does not recognise same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic partnership benefits. The Turkish Council of State has ruled that homosexuals should not have custody of children, but it is not a must under the law.