Press release: Turkey poised to further roll back LGBTI rights amid ongoing democratic crackdown

As democracy continues to come under attack in Turkey, a draft law moving through parliament threatens to impose harsh criminal measures targeting LGBTI people

A bill introduced in April by Turkey’s government coalition party HÜDAPAR that would severely curtail the fundamental rights of LGBTI people is on its journey through parliament. The bill is part of the Turkish government’s crackdown on civil rights and democracy, as opposition figures and individuals who express opinions contrary to government positions are being systematically arrested and detained, including the main opposition party’s leader, Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Among those also arrested over the past months are artists, human rights defenders, lawyers, politicians and journalists, including LGBTI human rights defenders. Protests against the arrests have been met with illegal police violence, which may amount to torture or other cruel and inhumane treatment, and thousands of people have been detained.

The draft ‘Bill on Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code and Certain Other Laws’ includes an LGBT propaganda ban, similar to laws in Georgia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, all taken from the Russian anti-democratic playbook. However, the Turkish version is much harsher than in Bulgaria and Hungary, introducing severe prison sentences and banning LGBTI content from nearly all forms of communication and from the work of all organisations and legal entities, is impacted, regardless of their field of work.

The bill also includes an amendment that criminalises trans people by requiring them to disclose their sex assigned at birth before getting married. If they don’t, they will be imprisoned for entering into a fraudulent marriage. The wording of the bill is vague and doesn’t meet the legal standards for defining a crime. Right now, trans people can marry someone of the opposite sex after legally changing their gender. It’s unclear how this bill will affect that right, but it clearly limits the dignity of trans people.

The bill amends the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK) and the Radio and Television Authority Law adding the following prohibitions and penalties:

• 3 to 5 years’ imprisonment for a person who “encourages, promotes, disseminates, or propagates sexual relations or behaviours between persons of the same biological sex in any way”. If this crime is committed through any written, visual, auditory, classical, or digital communication and information channels, the punishment will be increased by half.
• 2 to 8 years’ imprisonment for a person who engages in public sexual intercourse, and this amount is doubled to 4 to 16 years’ imprisonment if the act is committed between two persons of the same sex.  
• 1 to 2 years’ imprisonment for a person who engages in acts of public indecency or exhibitionism, and this amount is doubled to 2 to 4 years’ imprisonment if the act is committed between two persons of the same sex.  
• The crime of “indecent acts” has been added to the list of serious offenses. This means that people accused of it can be jailed during an investigation, even if there’s no risk of them fleeing, hiding evidence, or pressuring witnesses. Normally, detention is only allowed if those risks exist, but this change allows judges to detain someone just based on the accusation.
• 1 to 3 years’ imprisonment for “a person who enters into a marriage by concealing their biological sex”.

According to ILGA-Europe’s Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel: “These discriminatory amendments must be considered as part of the broader attack on fundamental rights and sharp decline of democracy in Turkey. They introduce further discrimination against the LGBTI community, contravening international fundamental rights standards and decisions of Turkey’s Constitutional Court and contribute to the tightening of the fundamental right to freedom of expression. They must not be adopted.”

Turkey ranks 47th out of 49 countries on ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Map which reflects the legal and policy protection of human rights of LGBTI people in Europe.