National

The age of consent in Turkey is 18 years [R1.1].

Interpol suggests that "there is no precise legal age of consent for sexual activity" [R1.2].

National

Turkey has a long history of offering safety for refugees. Between 1923 to 1997 1.6 million people fled to Turkey, displaced by WW2, the Cold War and the Gulf conflicts [R1.1].

Amnesty International has reported cases of non-European asylum seekers registering for refugee status and then being forcefully deported by Turkish authorities [R1.1].

There have been cases where refugees have been handed directly to the authorities of the country they were fleeing [R1.1].

Courts & Tribunals

In 1996, the Turkish Supreme Court of Justice has ruled that a lesbian is a threat to the moral development of her child and have refused to uphold the decision of a lower court that granted the mother custody of her 2-year old daughter [R1].

The Supreme Court defined the lesbian mother as "a woman who has a (sexual) habit in the degree of sickness".

National

In March 2010, it was reported that a board to prevent discrimination was going to be founded according to a draft law that the Interior Ministry recently completed under the government's move for democratization. The draft law includes sexual identity [R1.1].

In May 2009, a Turkish soccer referee was forced out of his job because of his sexuality he having been excused from his compulsory military service on account of his homosexuality [R1.2].

Courts & Tribunals

On 30 April 2010, Judge Mursel Ermis in the Izmir Court, rejected a demand sought by the governor's office to ban Siyah Pembe Ucgen (Black Pink Triangle), a group campaigning for gay rights [R2.1].

In January 2009, the Supreme Court of Appeals rejected the local court's decision to enforce closure of Lambda Istanbul on the grounds that reference to LGBT people in the name and the statute of the association did not constitute opposition to Turkish moral values [R2.2].

Previously:

In 2007, a demand to enforce closure of Lambda Istanbul, Turkey's leading GLBT organisation, was thwarted by a judge who ordered legal experts to compile a report [R2.3].

National

On 22 February 2010, the IGLHRC reported an ongoing pattern of violence against transgender people that included a number of murders [R1.1].

In 1988, a specific law on Gender recognition after Gender Reassignment treatment was introduced [R1.2].

In 1997, it was reported that assault by the police is emblematic of the situation of transvestites and transsexuals in Istanbul, who have been routinely rounded up from their homes, beaten and evicted [R1.3].

National

Homosexuality was a known tradition in the era of Ottoman Empire which lasted more than five centuries [R1.1]. It is understood that the law is silent as to homosexuality and that as a consequence consensual sex between same-sex couples has been lawful in Turkey since 1858 [R1.2].

In July 2008, a gay student activist is alleged to have been shot in what is believed to be Turkey's first reported gay "honour killing" carried out by members of his own family [R1.3].

National

In 1996, the Justice Commission of the Turkish Parliament passed a Bill stating that people who conduct "unnatural sexual intercourse" shall be expelled from the army [R1].

National

In February 2010, the Council of Europe amended an article of its declaration on children's rights after Turkey objected to a specific article alluding to gay marriage. Originally, the article stated, "Currently, the family [is a concept] composed of different lifestyles and children in Europe grow up in family forms that can change during the life of children."

Following the amendment, however, the article has the added phrase: "These family forms change from one country to another." At the same time, a phrase reading, "The relevant articles will be evaluated under the framework of national regulations," was added to relevant subsequent articles [R1.1].