AKP MP: “Homosexuality is one of the biggest threats”

AKP MP Ayşe Doğan made homophobic remarks at the TBMM Commission on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men: “Everybody knows that this can be one of the biggest threats to our society.”

Source: “AKP’li vekil: ‘Eşcinsellik en büyük tehditlerden biri,'” (“AKP MP: ‘Homosexuality is one of the biggest threats,'”) kaosGL.org, 17 February, 2016, http://www.kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=21120

TBMM [The Grand National Assembly of Turkey – Trans.] Commission on Equal Opportunity for Women and Men discussed, in yesterday’s meeting, the proposal that a Human Rights and Equality Foundation of Turkey should be formed as a subsidiary organ in order to focus on protecting and improving human rights based on individual’s dignity, to ensure their right to be treated equally, and to prevent discrimination in benefiting from lawful rights and freedom.

CHP and HDP were critical of the exclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity from the proposal

Based on the Turkish daily Hürriyet’s news, Candan Yüceer, Republican People’s Party (CHP) [opposition party – Trans.] Tekirdağ MP, stated that lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans individuals are faced with discrimination and killed. Yüceer further added that overlooking this problem, and interpreting the recommendations listed in the international agreements would mean ignoring the individuals who are being discriminated against.

Yüceer suggested that excluding sexual orientation and gender identity from the proposal would mean that “all will benefit from the lawful rights and freedom, except for those who are less equal.”

Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) [opposition party – Trans.] İstanbul MP, emphasized that sexual orientation and gender identity must be included in the proposal, and that turning a blind eye to these individuals would not simply make them disappear.

Homophobia from AKP MP

Ayşe Doğan, Justice and Development Party (AKP) [the ruling party – Trans.]  Tekirdağ MP, made the following homophobic remarks in response to Yüceer and Kerestecioğlu:

“There is no need to change our commission’s agenda by including a different subculture, with artificial sexual tendencies that are not in line with human nature and our society’s customs and traditions. Here, we discuss values in professional life as ladies and men. There is no point in bringing up [a] different group’s private life and their private gender identities in bedroom. Everybody knows that this can be one of the biggest threats to our society.”

Kerestecioğlu stated, upon hearing Doğan’s remarks, that she is “flabbergasted, and could not believe her ears,” and that she finds them utterly odd.

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