Gay and lesbian activists in Türkiye said Tuesday that the European Union has not pressed hard enough on discrimination against homosexuals, even as Brussels scrutinizes other human rights conditions in the country ahead of Türkiye's potential membership.
Ali Erol of KAOS GL, a leading LGBT organization, pointed to a recent penal code revision in which the government quietly removed a clause that would have criminalized discrimination based on sexual orientation. He said EU officials raised no objection: 'No one bothered to ask where the article on sexual orientation vaporized.'
A conference marking the end of a British embassy-funded KAOS GL training program brought together human rights advocates to discuss how to raise LGBT issues within broader rights campaigns.
Activists acknowledged that Türkiye is comparatively tolerant for a majority-Muslim country. Same-sex relations have never been illegal there, and openly gay figures appear among prominent public personalities. Even so, most LGBT people fear job loss if they disclose their identity, and police treatment of transsexuals and transvestites remains harsh.
Kursad Kahramanoglu, Türkiye's co-chair of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, said he hoped the EU accession process would create momentum for anti-discrimination measures, even if external pressure was not the ideal driver of change.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in February 2005, in its own words.