Sexual Identity Politics in Turkey
The following are brief excerpts from a fascinating article by Kerem Öktem, “Sexual Identity Politics in Unsettled Turkey”, in Middle East Report Online (for full article, click here) I’ve also added MERIP to the blogroll.
… June 29 marked the largest gay pride event ever to be held in Turkey, and indeed the largest in the immediate neighborhood of southeast Europe, where similar, if smaller, processions were attacked by right-wing extremists and members of the general public…. Yet no one used the gay pride parade to pose as champions of public morality. There was no hate campaign, and indeed there was benign neglect, in both the Islamist and secular sectors of the mainstream press…. Was this an indicator of growing acceptance of gender non-conforming lifestyles in Turkey, a sign of a more tolerant, outward-looking society, affirmation of a more progressive cultural climate?
There is wide consensus that Turkey is a “hinge state,” a hybrid of the political and also sexual regimes and ideologies of Europe and the Middle East… Yet as liberal and cosmopolitan as Istanbul and other cities in western Turkey look in comparison to cities in nearby countries, Turkey remains a deeply conservative — if highly heterogeneous and regionally differentiated — society…
Yet to what extent does this success translate into concrete amelioration of homophobic practices in public institutions and the legal system? Paradoxically, at least at first glance, discriminatory practices in state institutions are widespread and homophobic behavior is on the rise….
Much of the rise in incidents of homophobia may be due to better reporting. Yet the change seems to be structural: A war rages within the republican establishment over the right way to be a “Turkish citizen” and a “Turkish man.” It is fought in police stations, courts and military barracks, and seems to target members of the transgender community with the greatest violence…
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment