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NEW YORK, September 28 – The
threat by Turkish officials to close down an organization defending lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people’s rights violates basic freedoms of
association and expression, Human Rights Watch said last night.
Selahattin Ekremoglu, deputy
governor of the Turkish capital Ankara, on September 15 wrote a letter to
the gay and lesbian group Kaos GL that said a court procedure had been
opened to dissolve the organization. He claimed that the name and
regulations of the group violated a provision in the Turkish Civil Code that
forbids "establishing any organization that is against the laws and
principles of morality."
“Turkey has a long record of
suppressing civil society and harassing human rights defenders,” said Scott
Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Project
at Human Rights Watch. “This dangerous new move shows that old habits die
hard, and calls into question recent advances in rights protections.”
Kaos GL Gay and Lesbian Cultural
Research and Solidarity Organization is an 11-year-old, Ankara-based
collective that operates a drop-in center providing social and cultural
support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The group also
advocates for measures to end discrimination and violence, and it publishes
a magazine that has been registered as a legal publication since 1999.
On July 15, Kaos GL applied to the
Ministry of Interior for recognition as a nongovernmental organization. The
ministry initially approved the request, but the Ankara deputy governor, who
reports to the Interior Ministry, has now responded by launching a lawsuit
to close the organization.
“Sweeping references to ‘morality’
in the Turkish Civil Code still offer a pretext for discrimination and abuse
of basic rights,” said Long. “Equal protection doesn't include exclusion for
sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Turkey has ratified the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects
freedoms of expression and association and also forbids discrimination on
the basis of sex. In 1994 the U.N. Human Rights Committee held that ‘sexual
orientation’ was a status protected against discrimination by the treaty.
Turkey has also ratified the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which affirms
freedoms of expression and association.
The European Court of Human Rights
has condemned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
in a succession of cases. (See
http://hrw.org/lgbt/jurisprudence.htm).
In a briefing paper on Turkey’s
progress toward admission to the European Union, Human Rights Watch last
year said that: “The government continues to ease the restrictions on
associations by small degrees.”
However, the paper also noted, “for
organizations viewed with suspicion by the authorities, including human
rights organizations, day-to-day life feels like life under a police state:
annual meetings and press conferences are often monitored by plain clothes
police officers toting video cameras, while local prosecutors maintain a
hail of litigation.”
■ Turkey is
scheduled to begin membership talks with the EU on October 3.
SEE ALSO:
Turkey:
Ankara’s Deputy Governor Threatens to
Close Down Gay Organisation. The Deputy Governor of Ankara,
Selahattin Ekremoglu, is calling for an LGBT group to be closed down, it
emerged today. Ekremoglu claimed last week that the group operated “against
the laws and morality rules” and should be closed down. (UK Gay News,
September 21)
“A Crossroads for Human Rights? Human Rights Watch's key concerns on Turkey
for 2005,” December 15, 2004.
LINKS
Human Rights Watch website
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Recent Articles
September 28:
Belarus/Sweden/UK:
European Push to
Help Belarus Gays. Concerns are growing over human rights
of gays in Belarus, dubbed by activists as “Europe’s last dictatorship”.
September 27:
USA:
Gay
Pioneers to Be Guests of The Falls Church News-Press at HRCs Silver
Anniversary Dinner. Two of the original ‘gay pioneers’ who
kicked off the modern civil rights movement for lesbians and gays with
demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia in the mid-1960s, will
be the special guests of the Falls Church News-Press, a progressive weekly
newspaper in Northern Virginia suburbs of the nation's capital, at the Human
Rights Campaign’s 25th Anniversary National Dinner in Washington, D.C., on
Saturday (October 1).
Nepal:
HIV Victim Beaten As
Police Taunt Gays In Nepal. A Nepalese meti afflicted with
HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, was savagely beaten by police and detained
in a Kathmandu police station for a day before being released on payment of
what was effectively a bribe.
Jamaica/UK:
Buju Banton In Court
Friday After Gay-Bashing Attack. UK gay human rights group
Outrage! will be paying particular attention to a trail in a Jamaican court
on Friday when Mark Myrie, better known as reggae
singer Buju Banton, answers charges of assault.
September 26:
Moldova:
Moldova: Discrimination
Against Gays, Lesbians Is Inadmissible, Says Council of Europe.
Moldova must guarantee the fundamental rights of gays and lesbians, a report
from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) says.
September 25:
UK:
Time For Tribute
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Nigel Barnes, the founder of gaytributes.com tried, he was refused at
every stage, all owing to one little word “gay”.
September 24:
Russia:
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Michael Cashman, the out-gay Member of the European Parliament, has invited
the Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov to Strasbourg for a “summit” on gay pride
events and of LGBT rights to expression, demonstrations and meetings.
September
23:
Iran:
Holding Iran
Accountable for Violating Gay Human Rights, by Paula Ettelbrick.
The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, joined the largest
gathering ever of world leaders last week at the United Nations without one
question being asked about his country’s continued violations of
international human rights law. Iran has signed both the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child. Both forbid the execution of any person under the age of 18
for any crime. Yet there has been a rash of public executions in Iran that
have involved youth or were related to sexuality and gender identity.
September 22:
USA:
Amnesty Report Reveals Alarming and Widespread Police
Mistreatment of Gays in USA. In the most comprehensive
report of its kind to date, Amnesty International (AI) reveals that police
mistreatment and abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is widespread throughout the USA and goes largely
unchecked due to underreporting and unclear, under-enforced or non-existent
policies and procedures.
Full statement by Dr.William Schulz,
Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
Russia:
Gay Russian Wins Employment Discrimination
Case in Landmark Ruling - Court Rules Homosexuality Is Not a Mental
Disorder. In what is seen as a “landmark” ruling, a
court in St. Petersburg has backed a gay man whose military record
said he had a mental disorder, solely on the basis that he was gay.
The man, identified only as “Mr. VP”, had applied to the Russian
State Railways for a job as a guard, but was deemed to be unfit for
the job because of his “mental disorder”.
September 21:
Turkey:
Ankara’s Deputy
Governor Threatens to Close Down Gay Organisation. The
Deputy Governor of Ankara, Selahattin Ekremoglu, is calling for an LGBT
group to be closed down, it emerged today. Ekremoglu claimed last week that
the group operated “against the laws and morality rules” and should be
closed down.
Russia:
Poll Shows Majority
Support Gay Rights in Russia. For the first time ever, a
clear majority of Russians say that there should be equal rights for gays in
the country, a new opinion poll has found.
September
20
Iran:
Iranian Gays Live in Fear.
This is the full
text of the press statement from PGLO (Persian Gays &
Lesbians Organisation) received by email received at Outrage! in
London.
Amir, a young Iranian homosexual, recently spoke out
about the torture he has suffered at the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Iran: Gay Amir, Aged
22, Given 100 Lashes. The bruised and bloodied body of a 22
year old gay Iranian, Amir, bears further witness to the brutality of the
Ayatollah’s regime. Yet many gay and human rights groups in
“the West” are sweeping the matter under the carpet,
Outrage! suggests.
USA:
New York’s Famous Gay
Pair Call It a Day. Commentary. We all know that these days love
often fades and couples, whether gay or straight, split up. News came today
via many British newspapers that Roy and Silo, arguably New York City’s most
famous gay “item”, have decided to call it a day.
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