MP Asks Prime Minister Davutoğlu Parliamentary Question on the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Fatwa Hotline and Homosexuality

Aykan Erdemir, a parliamentarian from the Republican People’s Party, filed an official parliamentary question asking Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to comment on the fatwa hotline of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. (PDF)

TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE TURKISH GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

I present my questions below and request that they be answered in writing by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Respectfully,

Asst. Prof. Dr. Aykan ERDEMİR
Member of Parliament from Bursa

In the Milli Gazete dated 25 November 2014, there was a news story about a meeting which the European Parliament had arranged in Tirana in connection with the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, where a member of parliament, the Government Auditing Commission, and NGOs from Turkey participated.

In the aforementioned news story, it was alleged that an inquiry “concerning participation in the meeting” had been directed by the employees of the Milli Gazete to the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Hello Fatwa Line, and that a reply had been received saying that “It is certainly a perversion and is forbidden by our religion. Those who give support to such a meeting in a positive sense have accepted spiritual responsibility [for this sin]. It is necessary to publish the evil of this through the agency of NGOs”; and the aforementioned fatwa was shared.

In this connection:

  1. Was a question with the heading “concerning participation in the meeting” directed to the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Hello Fatwa Line, as alleged in the aforementioned news story? If so, what kind of answer did the Ministry of Religious Affairs give?

  2. From 2002 until now, how many questions, and questions about what subjects, have been addressed to the Hello Fatwa Line either by homosexual and transgender citizens and their family members or in connection with the condition of homosexual and transgender persons? In what form and with what content have answers been given to these inquiries?

  3. What are the “religious and non-religious written sources” that the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ public services, including the Hello Fatwa Line, have taken or provided as references within the framework of the issue of discrimination, hate, and violence directed at homosexuals and transgender citizens? Do they include the human rights corpus, such as the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and other conventions and documents derived therefrom, the European Human Rights Convention, and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights?

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