Gay men turkey
Proving you're gay to the Turkish army
Some people in Turkey say with resentment that gay men are actually lucky, as at least they have one possible route out of military service - they don't have to expend months in the barracks, or face the possibility of being deployed to fight against Kurdish militants.
But for openly gay men, life can be far from easy.
It is not uncommon for employers in Turkey to question occupation applicants about their military service - and a pink certificate can indicate a job rejection.
One of Gokhan's employers found out about it not by asking Gokhan himself but by asking the army.
After that, he says, he was bullied. His co-workers made derogatory comments as he walked past, others refused to talk to him.
''But I am not ashamed. It is not my shame," he says.
Ahmet is still waiting for his case to be resolved. The army has postponed its decision on his pink certificate for another year.
Ahmet thinks it is because he refused to appear before them in woman's clothes. And he doesn't know what to expect when he appears
Going to Turkey? Here’s every LGBTQ traveller needs to know
Turkey is a beautiful country in Western Asia that many travellers stop by for its beautiful beaches, breathtaking landscapes, and historic cities. It is a fairly conservative country, which is reflected in its attitudes towards LGBTQ people. For gay travellers in Turkey, there are protection concerns to be mindful of when it comes to public expression, both in the cities and in rural areas. But don’t let that prevent you from exploring the country and visiting its vibrant LGBTQ communities.
Safer gay travel in Turkey
To be clear, Turkey does not outlaw being gay. In fact, it has been legal since the founding of modern Turkey in However, general bans on “offences against public morality” are often used against LGBTQ expression. Even heterosexual couples are advised not to publicly display their affection, and LGBTQ couples are advised to be extra careful. LGBTQ people are not protected by anti-discrimination laws, and a general rule of thumb of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is the safest way
Turkey
1. Legal Landscape
a) Constitution
Article 10 of the Turkish Constitution regulates the equality principle among citizens and contains an open-ended list of groups that must be treated equally before the law. However, as Article 10 does not explicitly point to to sexual orientation and gender identity, the list must be amended to specifically guarantee those rights. In practice, LGBTs are not protected by this law.
b) Decriminalization
In Turkish law, LGBT identities have never been outlawed.
c) Age of Consent
Age of sexual consent in Turkey is The age of consent for homosexual acts is the same as it is for heterosexual acts. Individuals aged 17 or younger are not legally qualified to consent to sexual activity.
2. Equality and Non-Discrimination
a) Anti-Discrimination legislation
The law tends to ignore the existence of LGBT persons by not making any law in favor of or against LGBT persons. Also, there is no anti-discrimination law to protect LGBT persons from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Although there
RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi
Öz
This article aims to find out how gay men in Turkey construct their cultural identities under the impact of globalization, global gay culture, and global gay identity. In accordance with this aim, this study questions whether they stick to their local culture, acknowledge the cultural flows enabled by globalization and global gay culture as the way they are, or verb a way between these two forming a hybrid cultural identity. Thus, by focusing on the three possible cultural identity formations; cultural differentialism, cultural convergence, and cultural hybridity, that occur as a outcome of the interplay between cultural identity and global flows, this study conducts semi-structured interviews with fifteen Turkish gay men. The open-ended questions are formed in order to figure out the ways they interpret globalization and global gay culture & identity, whether they are affected by it, and where they situate themselves considering the circumstances of the local and the global culture they experience. Depending on the interviews, th