Milli Gazete

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?

Milli Gazete’s Sodom and Gomorrah analogy
Milli Gazete Cover Page, 25 November 2014. Annotated.

Milli Gazete Cover Page, 25 November 2014. Part 1. Annotated. Click for full size.

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Milli Gazete: Invitation to morality!

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Conservative paper attacked Turkish MPs who attended LGBTI conference

Conservative newspaper Milli Gazete attacked the Turkish MPs who attended a conference on fundamental rights held in Tirana by the European Parliament.

Source: Ömer Akpınar, “Conservative paper attacked Turkish MPs who attended LGBTI conference,” kaosGL.org, 25 November 2014, http://kaosgl.org/page.php?id=18051

Members of Parliament Nursuna Memecan from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Binnaz Toprak from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) were in the Albanian capital on November 20-21, 2014 to participate in the conference titled “Fundamental Rights, Non-Discrimination and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups, Including LGBTI”.

Turkish LGBTI activists together with Nursuna Memecan and Binnaz Toprak

Homophobic coverage caused three MPs to withdraw participation

Following Milli Gazete reporting on the event as “Parliament gives pass for immorality” three MPs, Mehmet Metiner and Ziver Ozdemir from the AKP and Ruhsar Demirel from the nationalist MHP, withdrew their participation.

Milli Gazete today reported on the conference full page with a title “Call to Morality”, calling Islamic groups to speak up against the LGBTI “disgrace”.

The paper wrote that the AKP MP “boarded the same plane secretly” to attend the “conference of perversion” and that the CHP MP’s criticism of the paper’s coverage is a “medal of honor”.

AKP MP: LGBTI people should be acknowledged their rights

Both MPs talked with Kaos GL Association’s lawyer Hayriye Kara, who also participated in the event, and commented on LGBTI rights.

Nursuna Memecan from the AKP said “LGBTI people’s rights should be acknowledged and they should live in dignity”, celebrating the work of civil society in Turkey on LGBTI rights.

Binnaz Toprak from the CHP criticized the government for not complying with international conventions it signed and added: “We should fight for everyone facing discrimination.”

An Ugly March…

Source: Dursun Ali Bulut, “Çirkin Yürüyüş” (“An Ugly March…”), Milli Gazete, 29 June 2014, http://m.milligazete.com.tr/haber/Cirkin_Yuruyus/325704

The kinds of sexual perversion that stand opposed to human nature and are strictly banned by God as well as the efforts to legitimize these perversions are becoming more daring by the day.

Gays who have been able to form associations for years now and who receive support from various circles, especially the European Union, roamed the streets during Ramadan. The 22nd LGBTI march to be organized on the second day of Sacred Ramadan aims to throw the biggest party in Istanbul with 100 thousand participants. Members of the organizing committee say that they have been working like crazy and are moving forward very fast adding the following: “This year, our goal is to include the entire city. We have been organizing the march in Istanbul for 12 years. Twelve years ago, we only had fifty people walking or delivering the press declaration. Now, we are organizing a march that is to be attended by over 100 thousand people. We are a huge family and we cannot be stopped!

They want to enter each home

LGBTI member Görkem Ulumeriç says, “We want to enter each home and communicate with everyone and we have a lot more left to do.” Another LGBTI organization committee member Şevval Kılıç says, “We have been working like crazy. We were able to achieve our current day success by communicating with everyone around us: With Kurds, feminists, socialist, anti-militarists, and environmentalists… We wish to highlight this. When there were 20 or 30 thousand of us marching, we thought ‘Wow, it is so nice that there are so many of us this year.’ Then we saw last year that the march included 60 or 70 thousand people. There were too many of us for Istiklal Avenue to hold. And this year, we expect 100 thousand people.”

“Twelve years ago we were 50, now we are 100 thousand people”

Ulumeriç claims that the disgrace they put forth is the greatest activity in Istanbul. He adds, “They start preparing days in advance; they pick out their costumes. They share photos on social media websites and they tweet. This year, we are preparing for 100 thousand people. Istanbul is a huge city; our aim is to organize this march with a million people. This should be a festivity, like any other. You know like, when you think about what you will wear for some occasion and anticipate it with excitement, like the new years’, and when you know you will have a great time and see your friends and your loved ones…”

They spread all over the country like cancer

This disgrace that has spread all over the country like cancer continues to expand each day. LGBTI individuals state that they are active in many parts of Anatolia: “Many LGBTI persons have the courage to organize. Take for instance, Hewi LGBT, which is the Kurdish LGBTI initiative. There is an organization now in Malatya and one in Trabzon called the Purple Fish. Dersim LGBTI is newly founded; the Mersin organization became an association and the Hebun formation in Diyarbakır also became an association. There is the Kars LGBTI organization. And last year Pride Parades were organized in Izmir and in Antalya. This year, there will be one in Malatya too. Finally, the panel on local Anatolian LGBTI organizations will take place on 27 June.”