27/02/2025 | Writer: Oğulcan Özgenç
According to the draft law proposal reached by KaosGL.org; the expression ‘biological sex’ will be added to the Criminal Code. LGBTI+ expressions in the public sphere will be penalised, and legal procedures regarding the gender affirmation process will become more difficult.
In recent months, the government has designated 2025 as the ‘Family Year’. Many politicians, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, targeted LGBTI+s with the expressions of ‘desexualisation’, ‘LGBT propaganda’, ‘deviant and harmful movements’.
While 2025 was designated as the ‘Family Year’, the Draft Law Proposal on Amendments to the Turkish Penal Code and Certain Laws came out of the bag this time.
The draft bill was based on the 4th Judicial Reform Strategy Document prepared by the Ministry of Justice and announced by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 23 January 2025.
The strategy document, which covers the period 2025-2029 and includes 5 objectives, 45 targets and 264 activities, was announced by Erdoğan with the statements ‘We will build an effective and fast-functioning justice system with the new strategy document we have prepared with the vision of a justice system based on the rule of law, without delay and predictable’.
KaosGL.org reached the draft law proposal prepared based on the strategy document. The draft envisages amendments to the Civil Code and the Penal Code that explicitly target LGBTI+ persons.
We share with KaosGL.org readers the amendment proposals targeting LGBTI+s and Kaos GL Association Human Rights Programme Coordinator Lawyer Kerem Dikmen's evaluations on the proposals.
The draft includes regulations targeting trans people for the legal recognition of gender
According to the draft; the first of the articles of law expected to be amended is Article 40 of the Turkish Civil Code, which is titled ‘sex change’.
If the draft law is enacted, the age of starting the gender affirmation process will change from 18 to 21.
In addition, the enactment of the draft law will make it compulsory for those who wish to start the gender affirmation process to ‘certify that they are permanently deprived of the ability to reproduce and that gender affirmation is compulsory in terms of mental health with an official medical board report issued by a full-fledged training and research hospital determined by the Ministry of Health as a result of four evaluations to be carried out at least at three-month intervals’.
The following statements, which are not included in Article 40 of the current Civil Code, will be added to the law if the draft law is enacted:
‘No medical intervention for gender affirmation can be performed without authorisation.’
The draft law amendment will also make it more difficult for trans people to change their gender on official documents.
The change of the gender section in official documents will be decided by the court upon verification of an official medical board report issued by a full-fledged training and research hospital designated by the Ministry of Health.
If the draft text becomes law, the provision cancelled by the Constitutional Court will be restored
Lawyer Kerem Dikmen, Human Rights Programme Coordinator of Kaos GL Association, evaluates the proposed law on the amendment of Article 40 of the Civil Code as follows, noting that it will set back the legal recognition of gender:
‘As it is known, in the current system, individuals first obtain permission for surgery from the court, and then the gender affirmation process is legally completed with the determination that the surgery has been performed depending on the permission given.’
‘The age rule in the current text is increased from 18 to 21 years of age. Thus, for the legal recognition of gender, the age of majority is not considered sufficient, and it is forced to wait for three more years after the age of majority.’
‘The text of the article makes it a prerequisite to be permanently deprived of the ability to reproduce in order to request permission. While this expression was previously included in the text of the article, it was cancelled by the Constitutional Court's Decision dated 29.11.2017 and numbered E. 2017/130, K. 2017/165. The text of the proposal brings back the provision cancelled by the Constitutional Court.’
‘According to the current regulation, it would have been possible with a report to be obtained from any training and research hospital that gender transition is medically mandatory. The amendment proposal revises the hospitals authorised to issue the report as ‘a full-fledged training and research hospital designated by the Ministry of Health’. In this case, university hospitals will not be able to issue reports if they are not among those designated by the Ministry of Health, or even if it is a full-fledged training and research hospital, if it is not a designated hospital, they will not be able to issue reports or the reports they issue will not be valid before the courts.’
‘The amendment proposal aims to penalise trans people who undergo gender affirmation surgery abroad’
If enacted, the draft will add a new provision to the Penal Code through the amendment envisaged in Article 40 of the Civil Code.
According to the new article to be added to the ‘Offences against Bodily Immunity’ section of the Penal Code, those who perform gender affirmation operations without permission will be sentenced to imprisonment from three to seven years and a judicial fine from one thousand days to ten thousand days; those who have them performed will be sentenced to imprisonment from one to three years.
Lawyer Kerem Dikmen, who points out that in the current law, those who have gender affirmation operations without permission do not face any criminal sanctions, interprets the amendment proposal as follows:
‘With this amendment, it is aimed to penalise gender affirmation surgeries performed by trans people abroad without following the method in Article 40 of the Turkish Civil Code. It is unlikely that these surgeries will be detected without the person declaring that they have been performed. However, it is possible for people to apply to the courts in Turkey after completing the process abroad to have their gender recognised, but since the declaration of this by the person will also mean the notification to the public authorities that the surgery was performed without permission, this article makes it impossible for a person who has completed the surgical dimension of the gender affirmation process abroad to request recognition from the courts in Turkey, at least within the statute of limitations. In this way, it is also paved the way for the gender affirmation process completed by trans people who are citizens of other countries to be declared illegal and not recognised in the civil registry in Turkey.’
The expression ‘biological sex’ will be added to the Criminal Code, LGBTI+ expressions will be penalised
One of the articles to be amended in the draft law is Article 225 of the Turkish Penal Code, which is titled ‘Immoral Acts’.
If the draft becomes law, the expression ‘biological sex’ will be added to the Penal Code. LGBTI+ expressions will be defined as ‘immodesty’ and making these expressions visible will be penalised.
The provisions to be added to the article in question if the draft becomes law are as follows:
‘A person who publicly encourages, praises or promotes attitudes and behaviours contrary to the biological sex at birth and public morality shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one year to three years.’
‘If persons of the same sex perform an engagement or marriage ceremony, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one year and six months to four years.’
Lawyer Kerem Dikmen stated that the proposed amendment would prohibit the expression of gender in the public sphere:
‘With this amendment, a person who publicly encourages, praises or promotes attitudes and behaviours contrary to innate biological sex and public morality will be sentenced to imprisonment from one year to three years.’
‘Accordingly, trans people whose gender is not yet legally recognised, cross-dressers, behaviours, expressions, clothing preferences and forms of address that are identified with a gender other than the gender assigned according to gender roles are punished. To explain with examples, it is penalised for a person who is a man in the civil registry to wear a skirt or make-up that can be described as feminine; for a person who is a woman in the civil registry to use a name identified with masculinity according to gender roles and norms or to publicly express her expectation to be addressed as such.’
If the draft becomes law, LGBTI+ organisations will face legal proceedings
Dikmen also points out that if the draft law is enacted, civil society organisations advocating for LGBTI+ rights will also be subject to legal proceedings:
‘The activities of LGBTI+ human rights defender organisations will be directly subject to legal proceedings, while the activities of LGBTI+ inclusive rights organisations will be indirectly subject to legal proceedings by being described as ‘publicly encouraging attitudes and behaviours contrary to the innate biological sex’. In this context, the door is opened to penalising the managers and employees of associations working on gender expression, its relationship with freedom of expression and advocating for it; for example, journalists who interview a subject, activist or artist whose gender identity is not yet legally recognised and make them visible.’
Symbolic engagement and wedding ceremonies will also be penalised
Dikmen emphasises that the symbolic engagement and wedding ceremonies of LGBTI+ couples will also be penalised if the draft law is enacted and says
‘The regulation penalises the engagement or marriage ceremony of a man with a man and a woman with a woman according to the civil registry. Marriage equality does not exist in Turkey, symbolic ceremonies could be held, and with the proposed regulation, these symbolic ceremonies will also be prohibited. On the other hand, engagement or marriage ceremonies performed by persons in foreign countries where they reside or temporarily reside in accordance with the law of that country may also be penalised.’
Tags: human rights, family, health
