Gay rights in Turkey
LGBT rights in Turkey 
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|---|---|
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| Same-sex sexual intercourse legal status | Legal since 1858 |
| Gender identity/expression | Legal permission to have sex reassignment surgery |
| Military service |
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| Discrimination protections | Constitutional protection drafted, but was never enacted (see below) |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships |
No recognition of same-sex relationships |
| Adoption | – |
in Europe (dark grey) – [Legend]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Turkey face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT persons. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in the Ottoman Empire (the predecessor of Turkey) in 1858 and in modern Turkey, homosexual activity has always been a legal act since the day it was founded in 1923.LGBT people have had the right to seek asylum in Turkey under the Geneva Convention since 1951, but same-sex couples are not given the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples. Transsexuals have been allowed to change their legal gender since 1988. Although discrimination protections regarding sexual orientation and gender identity or expression have been debated legally, they have not yet been legislated. Public opinion on homosexuality has generally been conservative, and LGBT people have been widely reported to experience discrimination, harassment and even violence in recent years.
In the 1980s, the national government, whether democratically elected or as a result of a coup d'état, opposed the existence of a visible LGBT community, especially within the political context. The crackdown on prostitution may have been used as pretext for harassment of gay and transgender people.
Some openly gay people were able to be successful in the 1980s. Murathan Mungan has been openly gay throughout his professional life as a successful poet and writer. However, many gay and bisexual men who lived during this period have since said in interviews that they felt pressured, by social attitudes and government policy, to remain in the closet about their sexual identity.[1]
In the 1980s, the Radical Democratic Green Party expressed support for gay rights, including the work of a group of transgender people to protest police brutality. However, it was not until the 1990s that many members of the LGBT community in Turkey began to organize on behalf of their human rights.
In 1993, Lambda Istanbul was created to campaign on behalf of LGBT rights in Turkey. In 1994, the Freedom and Solidarity Party banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity within the party and nominated Demet Demir, a leading voice of the community, to successfully become the first transgender candidate for the local council elections in Istanbul.
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