Latest news with #KaosGL
Middle East Eye
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Turkey draft bill could write 'biological sex' into law and criminalise 'promotion' of LGBTQ
Draft legislation could see 'biological sex' written into law in Turkey and the 'promotion' of LGBTQ rights criminalised. According to a draft document from the justice ministry acquired by LGBTQ rights group Kaos GL, the new legislation would also introduce prison time for those who conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies. One provision to be added to the Turkish penal code would mandate that a 'person who publicly encourages, praises or promotes attitudes and behaviours contrary to the biological sex at birth and public morality shall be sentenced to imprisonment of one year to three years'. "If persons of the same sex perform an engagement or marriage ceremony, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one year and six months to four years,' said the document, which was obtained by Kaos GL from a ministry source. Other aspects of the bill would raise the age at which one can begin the process of gender reassignment from 18 to 21 and make changing your gender on official documents more difficult. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Though still a draft document yet to arrive at parliament, it comes shortly after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that 2025 would be 'Year of the Family' and would see a crackdown on 'harmful trends and perverse ideologies'. The proposals have alarmed LGBTQ campaigners, who see it as just the latest attack on their community from the government and its allies. 'This bill is not about protecting families - it is about criminalising existence' - Damla Umut Uzun, Kaos GL 'This bill is not about protecting families - it is about criminalising existence,' said Damla Umut Uzun, a campaigner with Kaos GL. She told Middle East Eye that, if enacted, this law could bring an end to nearly 40 years of organised LGBTQ activism in Turkey, including '18 years of legal status for LGBTI+ associations'. 'Activists could be arrested, organisations shut down and feminist movements directly affected,' she said. 'This proposal aims to dismantle social peace and suppress any relationship or identity that does not fit within the government's narrow definition of family.' 'Year of the family' Although support for LGBTQ rights is far from widespread across Turkey, there have been a number of prominent gay and trans celebrities over the years and the issue has gained salience among left-wing and liberal politicians in recent years. Erdogan himself was photographed at an iftar dinner with trans singer Bulent Ersoy in 2016. However, his government has recently become increasingly vocal against the LGBTQ community. At the launch of his 'year of the family' initiative last month, Erdogan said that LGBTQ rights were used as a 'battering ram' to destroy the family. LGBTQ+ groups 'opt out' of Pride in London over partners' links to Israel's occupation Read More » 'It is our common responsibility to protect our children and youth from harmful trends and perverse ideologies. Neoliberal cultural trends are crossing borders and penetrating all corners of the world,' he told the audience in Ankara. 'They also lead to LGBT and other movements gaining ground.' Although Istanbul held its first Pride parade in 2003, the gathering was banned in 2015, nominally over safety concerns. LGBTQ campaigners and journalists have faced abuse and harassment, while university groups have been targeted by police. On 18 February, Kaos GL's editor-in-chief Yildiz Tar was detained by police during a widespread sweep targeting leftist and pro-Kurdish journalists, and remains in detention. Tar previously told MEE the country was becoming increasingly unsafe for campaigning journalists such as himself. "They are trying to impose an anti-LGBTI agenda on society," he said in 2021. "It is not the case that there is a huge societal group that is against LGBTI people, but rather the government, political parties and media that are sponsored by the government are always targeting LGBTI people."
Middle East Eye
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Turkey: Mass detention snares leftist, pro-Kurdish and LBGTQ journalists
Turkish authorities have detained scores of leftist, pro-Kurdish and LGBTQ journalists and politicians in the latest opposition crackdown in the country. The government said 282 people were detained in police raids across the country, accusing them of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) armed group. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that the operation had been ongoing for five days. "We are determined to eradicate all forms of terrorism from these lands in order to achieve our goal of a 'Turkey without Terrorism' and to ensure the peace, unity and solidarity of our nation," he posted. Among those detained were singer and former parliamentary candidate Pinar Aydinlar, prominent campaigner and co-chair of the Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party Senol Karakas, human rights lawyer Nurcan Kaya, and LGBTQ rights campaigner Yildiz Tar. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Members of a range of other leftist and pro-Kurdish political parties, including the Labour Party and the People's Democratic Congress were also swept up in the detentions. Yerlikaya said those detained were accused of producing PKK propaganda, providing financing for the group, recruiting members and taking part in "violent street events". The Journalists Union of Turkey condemned the arrest of Tar, as well as journalists Ecrument Akdeniz and Elif Akgul, who was cleared of terror propaganda charges in 2024 after being charged over two posts she made on social media in 2018 and 2022. Tar, who runs the LGBTQ rights organisation KaosGL, previously told Middle East Eye the country was becoming increasingly unsafe for campaigning journalists like himself. "They are trying to impose an anti-LGBTI agenda on society," he said in 2021. "It is not the case that there is a huge societal group that is against LGBTI people, but rather the government, political parties and media that are sponsored by the government are always targeting LGBTI people." In a statement on its website, KaosGL demanded the "immediate release" of Tar saying that his detention reflected the increasing "political pressure and threats against journalists and human rights defenders" in Turkey. Media crackdown Turkey has regularly been described as the world's worst jailer of journalists by media freedom organisations. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party and previous Turkish administrations have long been accused of suppressing press freedom, with crackdowns on critical journalists escalating dramatically after the 2016 coup attempt. On 5 February, several of these targeted organisations warned that Turkey was seeing a "surge" in press freedom violations. According to a statement signed by groups including PEN International and the European Federation of Journalists, last month alone at least nine journalists were arrested, six sentenced to prison, five detained, while 23 faced investigations. Elon Musk denounced after X agrees to Turkey's censorship requests Read More » "While there appears to be a decrease in the number of journalists in prison, this masks a troubling shift toward using judicial control measures - such as travel bans, regular check-ins at police stations, and house arrest - as alternative means of restricting press freedom," they said. The Media and Law Studies Association, a Turkish rights group monitoring press freedom, said it had monitored 281 freedom of expression trials in 2024 involving 1,856 defendants, 366 of whom were journalists. Earlier this month, an access ban on 126 X accounts requested by the government was also approved by a single decision of a criminal court in Ankara on the grounds of "protecting national security and public order". According to Turkish freedom of expression organisation IFOD, those blocked included a range of journalists and media outlets, including left-leaning Arti Gercek and Yeni Yasam, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, and the women-focused Kurdish outlet Jin News. Hayko Bagdat, one of those whose accounts was blocked, told MEE that authoritarianism in Turkey was being cultivated with the help of foreign platform owners such as Elon Musk. "In Turkey, the Erdogan regime continues to attack opponents every day with new court rulings and police pressures to permanently silence democratic and equality pursuits," he said.
