Bekir Bozdağ

MP Tanal asks Minister of Justice their activities on protecting the human rights of the LGBT citizens

Mahmut Tanal, a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s Human Rights Commission, is waiting for a response to his questions regarding the activities of the Ministry of Justice.

Source: “Milletvekili Tanal, Bakan Bozdağ’a LGBT Yurttaşların İnsan Haklarını Koruma Çalışmalarını Sordu”, (Parliamentarian Tanal asks Minister of Justice Bozdağ their activities on protecting the human rights of the LGBT citizens”, KaosGL.org, 22 November 2014, http://www.kaosgl.com/sayfa.php?id=18021 

Mahmut Tanal, a parliamentarian of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) from Istanbul; submitted 20 questions to the Grand National Assembly to get information about the activities of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Social Security and the Ministry of Family and Social Policies for protecting the human rights of LGBT citizens.

Tanal, a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s Human Rights Commission, requested a written response from the Ministry of Justice Bekir Bozdağ for the following questions:

  • Is there any activity carried out by your Ministry for recognising and protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans citizens, in accordance with international obligations?
  • Is there any activity being carried out for the Ministry staff, including the staff in provincial areas, to build awareness on this subject? What are these activities? What stage are these activities at?
  • Are there any occupational trainings regarding the problems and special needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans detainees and convicts given to correctional officers, teachers, social workers, psychologists, sociologists, and health personnel working within the prison system?
  • For the internal training of the aforementioned personnel, which resources and publications are used for the contents about human rights and democratic citizenship?
  • In the recruitment process for the aforementioned personnel, are there any criteria requiring knowledge and experience that are to be met on LGBT persons’ human rights and special needs?
  • Are there any awareness-building and violence prevention programs given to correctional officers and other inmates on combating stereotypes based on sexual orientation and gender identity, exclusion and violence?
  • When a violence threat towards LGBT people from correctional officers or detainees and convicts is reported, what kind of procedure is followed by your Ministry for protecting the LGBT person, or as a sanction to the perpetrator?
  • What kind of mechanisms are there present in the prisons for LGBT convicts to easily report complaints to the management, or for the management and prevent them to be aggrieved and for establishing complete privacy and security?

Ministry of Justice: LGBT training is provided to prisons’ psycho-social service experts

The Ministry of Justice responded to a request for information regarding LGBT inmates and said that it provides training on how to approach LGBT convicts and detainees to the prisons’ psycho-social service experts. The Ministry did not respond to the question on whether correctional officers and the general inmate population receive programs on awareness-building and violence prevention.

Source: Murat Köylü, “Adalet Bakanlığı: Cezaevi psiko-sosyal servis uzmanlarına LGBT eğitimi verildi”, (“Ministry of Justice: LGBT training is provided to prisons’ psycho-social service experts”), Kaos GL, 30 December 2014, http://www.kaosgl.com/sayfa.php?id=18372

The Ministry had said “We do not do any work on LGBT rights”

The Ministry of Justice sent a partial answer to Mahmut Tanal’s request for information regarding “LGBT rights in prisons”. Mahmut Tanal is a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s Human Rights Commission.

The Ministry of Justice had answered that they do not conduct “any work on LGBT rights”, in response to another request for information by Parliamentarian Tanal. However, it has been revealed that the Ministry is in fact giving trainings on the issue to the prison psycho-social service experts.

Isolation instead of education!

The European Court of Human Rights had found Turkey guilty of discrimination and ill-treatment in a 2012 case regarding a gay inmate’s “isolation for his own security.” In the following months of the judgement,  the Ministry of Justice had put forth an “LGBT-only Prison”, which was criticized by civil society as “collective isolation”.

Mahmut Tanal, Member of Parliament from the Republican People’s Party, submitted a parliamentary question in November 2014 to the Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ on “LGBT inmates rights”. However, given the fact that questions submitted by opposition parties usually go unanswered, the same questions were submitted to the Ministry through a request for information, which makes a response mandatory.

The questions submitted by MP Tanal are:

  • Are there any occupational trainings regarding the problems and special needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans detainees and convicts given to correctional officers, teachers, social workers, psychologists, sociologists, and health personnel working within the prison system?
  • In the recruitment process for the aforementioned personnel, are there any criteria requiring knowledge and experience that are to be met on LGBT persons’ human rights and special needs?
  • Are there any awareness-building and violence prevention programs given to correctional officers and other inmates on combating stereotypes based on sexual orientation and gender identity, exclusion and violence?

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BDP MP Queries Minister About Trans Prisoner’s Condition

Kaos GL, “BDP’li Aksoy Trans Mahkumun Durumunu Bakan’a Sordu,” (“BDP MP Queries Minister About Trans Prisoner’s Condition”) kaosGL.org, 17 April 2014, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=16358

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MP from Ağrı District has made an inquiry on Avşa’s, a trans prisoner on hunger strike, condition to the Minister of Justice.

Halil Aksoy, a Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MP from Ağrı, has submitted a query to the Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdağ, on the situation of Avşa Erkuşan, a trans convict who has repeatedly been subjected to sexual harassment and assault in various prisons during her sentence and who, for the past two months, has been on a hunger strike.

Aksoy, after expressing that several human rights infringements remain in correctional institutions, mentioned that trans inmates in Bafra T-type Prison had started a hunger strike after many rights violations and sexual assaults.

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Separate Prison for the LGBTI, Collective Isolation

Source: “LGBTİ’lere Ayrı Cezaevi, Toplu Tecrit,” (“Separate Prison for the LGBTI, Collective Isolation,”) kaosGL.org, 15 April 2014, http://www.kaosgl.com/sayfa.php?id=16329

LGBTI organizations, lawyers and MPs from Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Republican People’s Party (CHP) offer their assessment on the project for separate prisons for the LGBTI: “collective isolation,” “concentration camp,” “labelling,” “against the ECHR”

Bekir Bozdağ, the Minister of Justice, stated that plans were underway for the project to construct separate prisons for inmates with different sexual orientations and gender identities.

Bozdağ’s announcement triggered a public debate. According to the report by Ümran Avcı and Şerife Güzel from Habertürk, while some approve of the policy, LGBTI organizations have reacted and described the project as “isolation/quarantine” and “concentration camp.”

Here are some of the opinions expressed:

“This is actually collective isolation, total medieval mentality”

Murat Köylü, Kaos GL Foreign Affairs Coordinator:

We believe this exposes a very important reflex of this government. Not only with regards to the rights of gay and trans citizens, but also, in the context of national and international dynamics, its perspective on topics like human rights, the primacy of law and democratic criteria. We can see that a government that denies the existence of LGBT people when it comes to discrimination and protection from violence, can take special measures when it comes to imprisoning them. When you look at the issue from the perspective of human rights, democracy and the primacy of law, this is actually a collective quarantine. A medieval mentality. 1.5-2 years ago, Turkey was found guilty at the ECtHR in a case where a gay inmate in Izmir was placed in a separate prison for their “own safety.” Now they will be separating all the LGBT people “for their own safety.” Isolation is one of the heaviest penalties. This means, in effect, the institutionalization of social discrimination. LGBT people want to live like everybody else without being subjected to discrimination. What kind of reasoning are these policies based on? Most LGBT people have to hide their gender identity in the absence of a policy of protection. How are they going to protect those who do not want to be out in normal prisons?

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