İdris Naim Şahin

The term “Gender Identity” cannot be removed from the “Commission for Equality and Fighting Against Discrimination’s Draft Statute”

Source: Kaos GL, “Ayrımcılıkla Mücadele ve Eşitlik Kurulu Kanun Tasarısı Taslağı’ndan “Cinsel Kimlik” İbaresi Çıkartılamaz!”, (“The term “Gender Identity” cannot be removed from the “Commission for Equality and Fighting Against Discrimination’s Draft Statute,”) 2 February 2012, http://www.kaosgldernegi.org/etkinlikdetay.php?id=7248

We have just learned that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) removed the term “gender identity” from the Commission for Equality and Fighting Against Discrimination’s Draft Statute.

We, the LGBT Associations who work on human rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans (LGBT) people in Turkey, demand the re-inclusion of the term “gender identity” to the draft statute of the Commission for Equality and Fighting Against Discrimination.

Removing the term “gender identity” from the draft statute, prepared in order to protect citizens against discrimination, is to legitimize the discrimination and human rights violations committed against LGBT people. The removal of “gender identity” shows us once again that the homophobic approach of the State Minister Aliye Kavaf who stated that “homosexuality is an illness,” reflects the AKP government’s politics.

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BDP Tuncel’s Questions on Transphobia and the Minister of Interior Şahin’s Response

Source: http://www2.tbmm.gov.tr/d24/7/7-11472s.pdf

GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TURKEY                                            11472

PEACE AND DEMOCRACY PARTY

NO: 1586

DATE: 10.10.2012

TO THE GRAND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF TURKEY

I request that my questions below be answered in writing according to the Constitution’s 98th and the Statute’s 99th article by the Minister of Interior İdris Naim ŞAHİN.

Sebahat TUNCEL

Istanbul Parliamentarian

Trans individuals continue to be the biggest victims of hate speech and hate crimes in Turkey. The last instance of this happened in Istanbul. On the evening hours of 7 October 2012 in Istanbul’s Avcılar district, a group of people gathered with an attempt of lynching in a compound where trans individuals live. The 50-60 people crowd which gathered in front of the house to lynch trans individuals chanted the slogan “we will die for honor, we will give our lives” and incited the public to hate. It has been stated that the police did not intervene in the crowds who attempted to enter the homes of trans individuals. It is said that a retired prosecutor or soldier has used hate speech against the trans individuals who have lived in the compound for years. They stated that these protests would last another week and that they would gather again the next Saturday. With the announcement that these events would go on every week, LGBT people stated their worry that these could escalate into hate murders.

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