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History of LGBT Movement In Turkey

As in most countries, gay culture first emerged in Turkey in male-dominated venues, such as parks, bathhouses, cafes and bars, especially in big cities like Istanbul and Ankara.

1970s. Raising Consciousness
By the end of the 1970s, a group of well-educated and economically independent lesbians and gay men had begun a political discourse with each other. Through the 1970s, Ibrahim Eren, working at the Environment and Health Organization in the city of Izmir, helped bring this about by establishing support groups among the lesbians and gay men of Izmir. However, the 1980 military coup shut down this organization, together with all other non-governmental organizations, and Eren left the country to escape government harassment. Living in Germany and in other European countries, he learned about anti-militarism and about the emerging green and gay movements.

1980–1986. Radical Democrat Green Party
While the 1980 military coup crushed the freedoms that Turkish people had been enjoying since 1961, it also provided an impetus for the lesbian and gay community to incubate its own movement by eliminating access to alternative, progressive organizations. Under these circumstances, Ibrahim Eren established the Radical Democrat Green Party to give voice to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered people, anti-militarists, and greens, but by 1987, the party foundered because of its inability to resolve internal issues.

1987. Hunger Strike Against Harassment
The Istanbul district near Beyoglu and Istiklal Streets has always been an important gathering place for lesbians, gay men, and transgendered people. By 1987, police harassment particularly against transgendered people in that district intensified to an alarming degree. The media was aware of this dangerous situation, but chose not to report it.
Thirty-seven gay men and transgendered people started a hunger strike to protest the harassment and sought help from the new Radical Democrat Green Party. This was the first public action taken by the Turkish lesbian, gay, transgendered, and transsexual (LGBT) community. Although no substantial success was achieved from the action, it raised attention both domestically and internationally. Some successful figures of the time, such as Rifat Ilgaz (author) and Turkan Soray (actress), openly voiced their support.

1988. Turkish Transgendered People Gain Legal Status
In 1988, following a long legal struggle, Turkish Civil Code (Clause 29) was amended as follows:
" In cases where there has been a change of sex after birth, documented by a report from a committee of medical experts, the necessary amendments are made to the birth certificate."
However, prejudice and violence against transgendered people continued.

1993. LGBT Pride Conference in Istanbul Banned
The Turkish LGBT movement became more visible during the 1990s. The most notable event was an attempt to organize a LGBT pride conference in Istanbul in 1993. The pride conference, named the Christopher Street Day Sexual Liberation Activities, was originally scheduled for July 2-6, 1993, but was banned at the last minute by the governor of Istanbul, apparently on the grounds that it would be contrary to Turkey's traditions and moral values and that it might disturb the peace. This was despite the fact that the Interior Ministry had previously provided the organizers approval to conduct the event. The governor allegedly sent his agents to many hotels in Istanbul, instructing them not to provide lodgings to the participants. The next day, Turkish authorities detained 28 foreign delegates. At the time of their arrest, most of the detainees were in transit to a press conference in protest of the ban. They were detained for over five hours, threatened with possible strip searches and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests, and deported on a Turkish airliner to Germany.
The most striking result of this event was the immediate establishment of Lambda Istanbul, which, to this day, remains one of the most active LGBT organizations in Turkey. Right after the Istanbul city government banned the conference, a group of gays and lesbians, formerly named "Gokkusagi" (Rainbow), renamed themselves “Lambda Istanbul”. The group’s first activity was to work with other organizations seeking to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Working with Turkey’s AIDS Prevention Society, Lambda Istanbul prepared the first safe sex brochure that directly addressed gay men. Lambda Istanbul became a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) in 1993.

1994. New LGBT Group Forms in Ankara and First Turkish LGBT Magazine Published
In 1994, a group of lesbians and gays gathered in Ankara to found KAOS, GL, a new LGBT group. They also started publishing a magazine (also called Kaos GL) to cover LGBT issues in Turkey. Kaos GL is still being published.

June 1994. New Political Party Addresses Turkish LGBT Community Issues
The Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP), formed in June 1994, became the first legal political party to champion issues concerning the Turkish LGBT community. It also became the first legal political party to specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation at all levels of the organization.

September 1995. LGBT Pride Conference in Istanbul Banned Again
In September 1995, the Istanbul city government halted a second, planned LGBT conference. Lambda Istanbul announced the city government’s anti-democratic actions to the free world through the Internet and Reuters. Despite the Turkish media’s failure to report these developments, the international media did, and the Turkish Ministries of Internal Affairs and Culture received overwhelming protests.

August 1996. The Turkish Supreme Court of Justice Determines Lesbians “Sick”
In June 1996, the Turkish Supreme Court of Justice (Turkey’s highest court) decided that permitting a lesbian mother to raise her child would threaten the moral development of her child. The Court vacated a lower court decision which had granted a lesbian mother the custody of her two-year old daughter. The Supreme Court characterized the mother as, "a woman who has a [sexual] habit in the degree of sickness.”

1990s. Dilemma of Turkish Lesbians
In 1990's there were some unsuccessful attempts to establish lesbian organizations, such as Sappho's Girls (Sappho'nun Kizlari) and Sisters of Venus (Venus'un Kizkardesleri). Lesbians in the existing LGBT organizations at the time were having problems identifying themselves as part of the movement.

1996. Repression Against Transgendered People Intensifies
Being highly visible, Turkish transgendered people continued to be severely repressed. Just before the 1996 United Nations Human Settlements Program (Habitat) conference was to be held in Istanbul, transgendered people who had been living in the Ulker Street area, in the Cihangir district of Istanbul, were driven from their homes. They were arrested and subjected to violence and torture.

1996. Lambda Istanbul Broadcasts First LGBT Radio Show and Publishes Magazines
In 1996, Lambda Istanbul began a radio program through Open Radio (Acik Radyo), as well as two magazines, to serve the Turkish LGBT community. While the radio program lasted almost two years, the magazines, 100% GL and Cins (Gender), were discontinued.
1996. First Turkish Student LGBT Group Formed
LEGATO, named after the Turkish acronym for lezbiyen gay toplulugu, is a lesbian and gay association that aims to bring together homosexual Turkish university students, graduates, and academicians. The first LEGATO branch was formed at the Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) in 1996, and, in a few years, branches spread to almost all universities in Turkey. By 2000, LEGATO had become one of the most important and active gay/lesbian organizations in Turkey, with its raising membership reaching 1,000. While LEGATO groups are mostly active on-line, some groups also gather in their respective universities.

April 1997. First LGBT Organization Participates at Government Level
Two members from Lambda Istanbul were invited to participate in the National Congress on AIDS, held in Ankara in April 1997. This was the first time that a Turkish LGBT organization was officially represented at government level.

June 1997. Turkish Transgender Activist Receives Award
On June 2, 1997, Demet Demir, a transsexual woman and the first person ever considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International because of sexual orientation, was given the 1997 Felipa de Souza Award for exemplary service to her community by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). Ms. Demir is from the Cihangir district of Istanbul and has worked on behalf of lesbians, gay men, transvestites, transsexuals, and sex workers throughout Turkey. She has been imprisoned numerous times, tortured, and she has had her home broken into and her telephone cables cut in efforts to silence her.
In 2005, Ms. Demir is still working in collaboration with various non-governmental organizations for equal rights for sexual minorities, and she is very active at the Lambda Istanbul organization.

1998-Present. Semiannual National LGBT Meetings Held
Since 1998, Turkish LGBT groups have been holding semiannual meetings, one in Ankara in the spring (Bahar Ankara) and the other in Istanbul in the fall (Guztanbul). The purpose of these meetings is to assess and solve the issues confronting the Turkish LGBT community. Since 2002, participants have also included some family members of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people.

February 1999. First Transgendered Person Runs for Local Elections in Istanbul
Demet Demir (see above), running as a member of the Freedom and Solidarity Party's (ODP) Beyoglu district organization, became the first transgendered candidate for the February local council elections in Istanbul.
2000-Present. New LGBT Groups Form in Smaller Turkish Cities
Following the establishment of LGBT organizations in Ankara and Istanbul, new organizations began to appear in other cities, including Pink Triangle Group in Izmir and Rainbow Group in Antalya. Two bear groups, Bear Anatolia and Bears of Turkey, have also become more active in the recent years. With the help of the Internet and other communication technologies, the number of LGBT organizations that target different aims and interests is expected to increase.

May 2001. First Time Turkish Homosexuals Openly Participate in Public Demonstration
Kaos GL participated in the May Day labor demonstrations in Ankara under its own banner and signs. This was the first time that Turkish homosexuals participated in a public forum. It also paved the way for Lambda Istanbul to join the May Day labor demonstrations in Istanbul in 2002 for the first time.

2003
March 2003. First Turkish Gay Library Established
An LGBT library was founded in March 2003, at the Lambda Istanbul Cultural Center. It includes almost 1,000 books, as well as human rights reports about LGBT issues, articles about LGBT/queer politics, the publications of some Turkish NGOs, and gay-themed movies.

May 2003. Important Symposia Held Concerning LGBT Issues
In May 2003, a symposium entitled "Music and Gender Politics" was held at the Lambda Istanbul Cultural Center.
Also in May 2003, the "Symposium about Discrimination and Violence Towards Gays and Lesbians" was held in Istanbul’s Bilgi University. Participants included Lambda Istanbul, Anatolian Bear Group, and academics. During the symposium discrimination against LGBT people in psychiatry, law, psychology, sociology, and social work was analyzed. Workshop topics also included "Problems of Travesties and Transsexuals" and "Invisibility of Lesbians”.

June 2003. First LGBT Pride March Held in Istanbul
In June 2003, Lambda Istanbul celebrated its tenth Gay Pride week and the anniversary of its establishment. For the first time in Turkey’s history, about 50 gays and lesbians marched down Istiklal Street in Istanbul. They also issued a press statement at the end of the parade that stated that “The Right to Live Proud” is an indispensable part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The statement also indicated the range of problems that Turkish gays and lesbians continue to face in their lives. Other events followed the parade, including the traditional pride party, the showing of the legendary movie “Stonewall”, a symposium and a poetry recital.

Since 2003, Lambda Istanbul in Istanbul has been organizing Pride events every year.
September 2003. Lambda Istanbul Joins an International Conference in Istanbul
On September 27, 2003 Lambda Istanbul participated in the "International Congress of Institute of Forensic Sciences" and joined a symposium about "Murders Towards Gays and Lesbians".

2004
Spring 2004. Meetings and Symposia Held in Various Cities
In the spring of 2004, Kaos GL convened meetings in the cities of Diyarbakir, Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul in order to unite lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals with human rights activists.
University-supported symposia included "To Understand Sexual Identity and Sexual Orientation in Turkey", held May 7, 2004, at Istanbul Bilgi University, and "Turkey, Identity, Queer", held for two days in April 2004 at the University of Bosphorus.

January 2004. Turkish Parliament Justice Commission Proposes Criminalizing "Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation"
On January 29, 2004, Turkey's Parliamentary Justice Commission voted to alter the discrimination clause in the Penal Code to designate "discrimination based on sexual orientation" a crime. It would encompass services, housing, and employment. Turkish LGBT activists praised the proposal. If it had passed into law, Turkey would have became the first predominantly Muslim country to pass such progressive legislation.

July 2004. Turkish Parliament Justice Commission Rules Out Anti-discrimination Proposal
On July 6, 2004, the Parliamentary Justice Commission decided to replace the discrimination clause in the Penal Code with the existing discrimination clause in the Constitution (Article No.10). While prohibiting discrimination based on language, race, skin color, gender, political opinion, religion, denomination, and similar reasons, the Constitution does not directly refer to sexual orientation.

July 2004. International Group Advocates Penal Code Reform as Part of Turkey’s European Union (EU) Membership Application
In July, 2004, the International Lesbian and Gay Association of Europe (ILGA Europe) asked the EU Presidency to ensure that the Turkish Penal Code be amended to criminalize discrimination against LGBT people.

September 2004. Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgendered People Protest Legislation
On September 15, 2004, demonstrators from LGBT groups marched alongside women’s rights groups in front of the Turkish Parliament to protest proposed legislation which makes no reference to discrimination based on sexual orientation.

October 2004. European Union Report on Turkey Barely Mentions LGBT Discrimination
The 2004 Regular Report on Turkey's Progress Towards Accession, published October 6, 2004, addressed various problems concerning Turkey. Although discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was mentioned twice in the report, the language was vague and the problems of the Turkish LGBT community were not mentioned at all.

October 2004. Formation of Gay and Lesbian Workers Network
Gay & Lesbian Workers Network Of KAOS GL was formed and held its first meeting in Ankara between October 29 and 31, 2004.
October 2004. First Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Held in Istanbul
Istanbul held its first gay and lesbian film festival, "OutIstanbul, 1st International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival", from October 1-6, 2004.

2005
Turkish LGBT Groups Push for Equality Promise in EU-Turkey Debate
On December 17, 2004, the European Union agreed to start negotiating membership with Turkey in October 2005. Kaos GL in Ankara and Lambda Istanbul in Istanbul issued numerous press releases to both Turkish and EU officials in order to bring attention to the problems of the Turkish LGBT community.

February 2005. Raising International Awareness of LGBT issues of Turkey
For the first time, the embassies of western countries attended a series of conferences concerning issues regarding Turkish gay men and lesbians. The events were organized by Kaos GL in February, 2005.

April 2005. Arrest of a Gay activist and Conscientious Objector
Turkish gay activist and conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan is being held in a military prison in Sivas, Turkey since April 2005. He was charged with “insubordination in front of the unit”, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment under Article 88 of TACK (Turkish Military Penal Code). Turkish army is the only European NATO army that defines homosexuality a psychological disorder.

July 2005. Kaos GL Became the First Turkish LGBT Organization That Gained Legal Status
Kaos GL, which was founded in 1994, applied to Interior Ministry and attained a legal status.

August 2005. Prison Sentence for Mehmet Tarhan
Sivas Military Criminal Court sentenced the gay activist and conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan to 4 years of prison.