The Media Report of January 2012 İssued

In January, we scanned 357 news in which the words ’’gay, lesbian, transexual, transsexual, transvestite, homosexual, bisexual, fagot, butch, queer, sexual orientation, sexual preference, sexual identity’’ are mentioned. 29 news took place in local newspapers, whereas 20 news did in magazines. 157 news are those where the words written above are mentioned, while 200 news are those related with LGBT people and written directly about homosexuals. 88 columns, 135 news, 60 art and culture news and the rest (66)  magazine news are made.

 

The announcement of an important decision was made among these news. After 3th International Meeting Against Homophobia, the newspaper Vakit targeted Kaos GL organizing that meeting and Prof. Dr. Zafer Üskül, the AKP (Justice and Development Party) representative and the head of the Human Rights Inquiry Commission of the Parliament (TBMM) attending the inauguration of meeting, by means of the news under the title of ’’Üskül prefers perverts’’, and the column written by Serdar Arseven with the title ’’An AKP member who gave assurances to she-males’’. The 4^th High Court of Appeals found the lawsuit filed by Kaos GL against the newspaper Vakit right. The court declared that the statements ’’pervert’’ and ’’she-males’’ in the aforementioned newspaper had went beyond the limits of critism and included insult to people who have different sexual orientations apart from heterosexuality, by emphasizing that the freedom of press does not encompass the freedom to insult the personal freedoms of individuals. Therefore, it sentenced the newspaper and Serdar Arseven it had found guilty to pay compensation. That news took place at the headline in the newspaper Radikal, on January 9, with the title ’’You cannot say gay and lesbians perverts’’. The lawsuit filed against the newspaper Vakit is an exemplary acquisition. Before the lawsuit ,was filed, the news generating hate speech in Vakit were announced on June 9, 2008 in the website of Kaos GL.

 

The newspaper Yeni Akit criticized the decision of the Court on March 10-11-12 by means of news titled as ’’Punishment Against Vakit Criticizing Perversion’’, ’’The Decision of High Court is bizarre’’ and ’’The High Court had not regarded ’pervert’ as insult previously’’. It repeated that ’’Homosexualism against human nature are criticized directly in the Koran and it is recommended that one should avoid it. The adverse actions in spite of the Koran will be punished in the other world strictly.’’ by saying that ’’the tribe of Lut had perished due to its perversion’’.

The opinions of LGBT associations took place broadly, such as in the newspapers Cumhuriyet, Star, Özgür Gündem, Zaman, Agos, Radikal, 24 Saat, Hürses, Milliyet, Sabah, Taraf, Akşam, Yeni Söz, Yeni Akit between on January 2-12, 2012 with such titles: ’’The Proposal of a Purple Constitution’’, ’’The others discussed the constitution of the others’’, ’’Three new constitution proposals’’, ’’We are not hopeful for the new constitution’’, ’’The reality should be recognized’’, ’’The constitutional repertoire of Turkey’’, ’’The Parliament will listen to homosexuals and conscientious objectors’’, ’’Homosexuals transmitted their demands to the The Constitutional Reconciliation Commission’’, ’’We cannot find a job unless we conceal themselves’’, ’’The Commission listened to homosexuals this time’’, ’’Homosexuals transmitted their demands to the Parliament’’, ’’We, as homosexuals, demand our constitutional rights’’, ’’Homosexuals demanded constitutional guarantee’’, ’’The Commission listened to the trade unions and non-governmental organizations’’, and ’’Homosexuals transmitted their demands to the Commission’’.

The absence of the statements ’’sexual orientation’’ and ’’gender identity’’ in the aforementioned draft was criticized by LGBT associations. The explanation of the SPOD organization was announced on February 1, in the newspaper Günlük under the title of ’’The State will not protect LGBT people against violence’’. On January 3, 2012, the newspaper Cumhuriyet reminded that the draft law is contradictory with respect to the absence of  the issues like sexual orientation and protection of the unmarried by exemplifying ’’Istanbul Contract’’ accepted by TBMM, by means of its news with the title ’’Violence Dilemma’’.

 

The reaction of LGBT organizations was mentioned on January 3, in the newspaper Habertürk throughthe news of Sibel Hürtaş which was titled as ’’The Law to Protect Family does not include us’’. The letter sent by Pembe Hayat association to Fatma Şahin, the head of the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, was announced by the newspaper Özgür Gündem on January 8, under the title of ’’LGBT people are ignored’’.

 

 

The movie also took place in local media in the cities where it is displayed apart from national newspapers and magazines.  The related headlines of newspapers are below:

 

’’We wonder how many parents confront with that reality’’, ’’Loving without Fearing’’, ’’Those who say true...’’, ’’Zenne is in the movie theaters’’, ’’A real family drama’’, ’’Zenne wil dance for consciences’’, ’’I started to dance on the street’’, ’’I cried at the end of the movie’’, ’’We wanted our mothers to watch as well’’, ’’Homosexuals should survive at first’’, ’’Becoming the other, Looking at the Other’’, ’’The story of those who spy out the life’’, ’’The premier which makes cry’’, ’’Zenne made those watching at the film cry’’,  ’’The courage of Zenne’’, ’’Excuse me but the stage is on Zenne’’, ’’Zenne is very vicious but I am calm’’, ’’Zenne is on CNN’’, ’’CNN talked of the movie which had made cry’’, ’’Zenne stimulated consciences’’, ’’The crew of Zenne met with audience in Bursa’’, ’’Two movie theaters in Izmir wanted Zenne to display’’, ’’The premier of Zenne in Bodrum was carried out’’, ’’Zenne is on the foreign media’’, ’’The interest in Zenne from the external media’’, and ’’The Foreign liked Zenne’’.

 

The movie displayed in Diyarbakır under the scope of International Meeting Against Homophobia took place in the newspaper Diyarbakır Özgür Haber together with the news of the Meeting.

 

On January 17, Fahrettin Dede, the writer of the newspaper Yeni Akit, mentioned about the movie Zenne through his column titled as ’’The Cultural Attack from Homosexuals’’ by using these statements: ’’The movie of the Perverts’’, ’’15 Year Age Support for the movie of perverts’’, ’’In this film, the events that Ahmet Yıldız, a university student killed on July 15, 2008, lives through. In the film which tells the stories of Ahmet, the dancer/ zenne Can and the photographer Daniel intersecting in Istanbul, it is attempted to legitimate high-dose sexuality and the perversive tendencies, and conservatism is criticized’’. As a result of that news, M.Can Alper and Mehmet Binay made a media release by declaring that they will benefit from our legal rights: ’’It can be attacked to the personal rights and right to live extremely through a mentality which regards homosexuality as ’’perversion’’ and judges a movie without watching it. The movie ZENNE, which attempts to raise public awareness of people suffering from human rights violations such as discrimination, hate crime, social exclusion and even primary rights, was described in an article written by Fahrettin Dede as ’’The Movie of the Perverts’’ on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 in the newspaper Yeni Akit. The newspaper Yeni Akit, which published that article titled as ’’The Cultural Attack from Homosexuals’’ and also a photograph which actually does not take place in the movie with the information of ’’An Image from the Film’’, targeted the movie ZENNE and similar cultural works in every respect in such a way that encourages hate speech and hate crimes’’. The newspaper Evrensel announced that release on January 19, with the title ’’The unpleasant attack from Yeni Akit to Zenne’’. After that release, Yeni Akit made a news titled as ’’Akit is on the target of Homosexual Lobby’’.

 

In the 48th episode of the television series called Behzat Ç., the subject of hate murders of transgender was covered. The members of Pink Life Association also took part. This episode prepared under the supervision of Pink Life Association was the initial step in terms of the visibility of LGBT movement in television. In the episode, there was not only hate murders but also discriminations LGBT individuals encountered in their daily lives. The maltreatment of the Balyoz Team working under the directorship of General Directorate of Security Ankara took part in the series. This team is known for systematic torture and illtreatment against trans individuals. The struggle of LGBT associations for making visible the bad deeds of Balyoz Team has always been rejected in an implicit way. This team was made visible and became a current issue in Behzat Ç. for the first time. Then, Selay from Pink Life claimed that Balyoz Team traces Behzat Ç. in Hoşdere Street. In her explanation to kaosgl.org, Selay said, ‘‘Balyoz Team confronted me in Hoşdere Street last night. I said ‘Pull up, I’ll get close’ and they jocosely threatened me and asked ‘Who told Behzat Ç. about Balyoz Team?’ I asked ‘Aren’t there bad guys among you?’ They replied ‘Have we done such a thing so far?’ Thereupon ‘If you wish I can share the testimonies of all trans individualls with you. We all know what you have done to trans individuals’ I said’’ Selay also states that this team was established in August 2011. In other words, it has existed for 11 years. BirGün newspaper took this news from Kaos GL and headlined it with the title Balyoz Ç. in 26th February. Evrensel and Radikal gave it with the same title ‘‘Who told Behzat Ç. about Balyoz Team?’’

 

Bülent Ersoy claimed that she had had a connection with Deniz Gezmiş, one of the symbol leaders of youth movement in the late 60s. Then, brother of Gezmiş and Lawyer Bozkurt Nuhoğlu reacted to that statement in a homophobic and transphobic way. For Gezmiş, Bülent Ersoy said, ‘‘He was a precious friend o mine. He loved the way I sing. Once he bought me three bottle of Çamlıca soda and I sang songs for him. Then I cried a lot’’ Nuhoğlu first said, ‘‘Deniz hated these people. She is lying. Friends of Deniz punish her’’ But then he apologised with a letter sent to Pink Life Association. This news is announced in Radikal newspaper in 5th January with the title ‘‘Revolutionary Threat to Ersoy’’, in Milliyet in 11th January with the title ‘‘Friend of Deniz Apologised’’, and again in Radikal with the title ‘‘Revolutionary Apology from Bozkurt Nuhoğlu to Bülent Ersoy’’ The article of Murat Sevinç titled as ‘‘Bülent Ersoy, Men, Constitution’’ in 15th January in Radikal İki was also published in Kaos GL website. Kaos GL presented the news in 4th January with the title “Bülent Ersoy who said she was acquainted with Deniz Gezmiş has been exposed to hate speech’’ Then in 10th January, it was taken part with the title ‘‘Lawyer Nuhoğlu Apologised from Bülent Ersoy and All Trans Individuals’’

 

In the progress report of European Union in 2011, it is stated that the definition in TSK should be changed. This news took place in Habertürk newspaper (10th January) with the title ‘‘Change the definition of the Homosexual’’ and in newspaper Önce Vatan (12th January) with the title ‘‘The Sketch of the Turkey 2011 Progress Report of European Union’’

 

‘‘The controversial constitution in France, the acceptance of the another controversial constitution in Hungary and the explanation of the United Nations to the South African countries are all taken part like that: “The Constitution Making Hungary Excluded From EU Is on Way’’ (3th January, Milliyet), “Approval of Controversional Constitution in Hungary’’ (4th January, Cumhuriyet), “The opponents of the project in the French Senate are increasing” (14th January, Habertürk), ‘‘Homosexual Expansion of Sarkozy Finished Without Expansion’’ (14th January, Radikal), ‘‘Homosexual Warning from UN to Africe’’ (30th January, Yurt)

 

Radikal newspaper presented the news of Ricky Martin’s marriage with the title ‘‘Ricky Martin Eventually Attained His Desire’’, while Şok newspaper headlined as ‘‘The Marriage Which Destroyed Millions of People’’ In that newspaper, there is also the news about Ricky Martin’s children in a humiliating way.

 

The several titles from the homophobic and sexist news against homosexual women: ‘‘The Lesbian Love of Demi’’ (Habertürk, 6th January), ‘‘Demi is very sexy, but we don’t make love’’ (Habertürk, 7th January), ‘‘Lesbo Sado Maso in a Five-Star Hotel’’ (Hürriyet, 14th January), ‘‘Hightoned Entertainment in Cyprus’’ (Şok, 15th January)

 

The murder suspect of a trans women who was stabbed to death 3 months ago in her home in Başakşehir was arrested. Suspect accepted the murder and said that ‘‘We met each other first on the web. This trans lied to me. When I went home, I realised that this person is a transvestite. That’s why, I committed murder’’ Unfortunately, many newspapers made news based on that statement of the murder suspect. Several titles: ‘‘Gory Self-Defence’’ (Akşam), ‘‘He Murdered When Realised the Fact’’ (Habertürk), ‘‘I Murdered When I Confronted with a Man’’ (Habertürk), ‘‘I Planned to Meet a Woman, not a Transvestite’’ (Hürriyet), ‘‘I murdered, because I planned to see a woman, not a transvestite’’ (Posta), ‘‘The murder suspect of the transvestite was caught’’ (Sözcü), ‘‘I shot to death when I learned that this person is a man’’ (Taraf), ‘‘I murdered when I learned the truth’’ (both Vatan and Büyükçekmece). 

 

Another hate crime occurred in 13th January in İzmir was represented as: ‘’14 Stabs to the Transvestite’’ (İzmir Hürriyeti), ‘‘A transvestite was stabbed for 14 times in Karabağlar’’ (Posta Ege)

 

There were also some news which criminalised LGBT individuals. Some of them: ‘‘Prostitution Raid to the Cinema’’ (Sabah), ‘‘Prostitution Raid to the Cinema Hall’’ (Dokuz Sütun), ‘‘Once-every-six-hour deviation from Coni’’ (Radikal), ‘‘Shocking Raid to the Virtual Prostitution’’ (Sabah), ‘‘Raid to the Virtual Prostitution’’ (Habertürk), ‘‘Man-hunt with a 400 million dollar advertisement’’ (Posta), “Revenge with Lesbian Lover’’ (Hürriyet)

 

In addition, a documentary prepared by LİSTAG which is a LGBT family organisation also took place in media. Some of the titles of news: ‘‘Families with Brave Hearts’’ (Cumhuriyet, 26th January), ‘‘It is the time for breaking the prejudices in Turkey’’ (Taraf, 26th January), ‘‘The identity card of my child is blue, but she is pink’’ (Milliyet, 29th January)