LGBT rights demanded for Turkey

An international human rights group has told the European Union that Turkey should not be allowed to join until it guarantees it has ended abuses against its LGBT community. A 123-page report released on May 22 by Human Rights Watch details Turkish harassment and brutality throughout the country. The report acknowledges that there have been some positive changes in Turkish law and policy as the country attempts to join the European Union. However, it also calls on the EU to insist on respect for LGBT people's basic rights as a barometer of Turkey's human rights progress. Turkish law offers no express protections for LGBT people's universal human rights. In 2005, the country reviewed some of its laws to bar discrimination, a move meant to show Turkey's commitment to European Union standards. However, Turkey has yet to adopt a comprehensive antidiscrimination law that conforms to EU standards, Human Right Watch said. "In the complex path toward European Union accession, this report points to an area where little or nothing has changed," said Scott Long, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at HRW. "The EU must fully incorporate issues of sexual orientation and gender identity when considering Turkey's application for membership. The report, "We Need a Law for Liberation': Gender, Sexuality, and Human Rights in a Changing Turkey," documents what HRW calls a long and continuing history of violence and abuse based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Human Rights Watch conducted more than 70 interviews over a three-year period, documenting how gay men and transgender people face beatings, robberies, police harassment, and the threat of murder. The interviews also outline the physical and psychological violence lesbian and bisexual women and girls confront within their families. Human Rights Watch said that it found that, in most cases, the response by the authorities is inadequate if not nonexistent. "Democracy means defending all people's basic rights against the dictatorship of custom and the tyranny of hate," said Long. "Where lives are at stake, Turkey needs to take concrete action and pass comprehensive legislation to protect them." In recent years, Turkish authorities have repeatedly harassed human rights defenders and civil society groups working on issues of gender and sexuality. Most recently, on April 7, 2008, police raided the offices of Lambda Istanbul, a nongovernmental organization that has advocated for LGBT people's rights for over 10 years. The police justified the incursion by claiming the organization "encourages" and "facilitates" prostitution. The Istanbul Governor's Office has also filed a lawsuit trying to close down Lambda, arguing its name and objectives are "against the law and morality." Lambda will once again have to defend its right to exist before the Civil Court of First Instance on May 29, 2008. The report examines a wide range of human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Several transgender people told Human Rights Watch how police tortured and raped them. One gay man recounted how another man stabbed him 17 times in an attempted murder that still remains unsolved. A lesbian couple described how their parents used violence to try to separate them; when they turned to a prosecutor for help, he refused, questioning them instead about their sex life. Human Rights Watch also found that, in a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Turkish military continues to bar gay men from serving in its forces.