Turkey to elect new President: Will LGBTI rights make it to the Presidential palace?

Voters in Turkey will go to the polls in less than a month now to elect the country’s head of state. As the first round of the Presidential elections is scheduled to take place on August 10, three candidates started running campaigns to spread their political promises.

 

In a largely polarized political atmosphere of Turkey, LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex) rights mostly go unmentioned as a political demand. Especially after LGBTI candidates did not succeed in local elections held in March, the stance of new President on homophobia and transphobia becomes more important for LGBTI rights in Turkey.

 

Here are the candidates for the Presidential elections and their stance on LGBTI rights:

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The Turkish PM for the last 11 years, Erdogan is not known for his support of LGBTI rights. Although he had talked in favor of legal protection for LGBTI people before being elected, he did not bring forward any law to do so. The leader of AKP (Justice and Development Party) also made a criminal complaint against an LGBTI activist for calling him “queer” last year, which resulted in a pecuniary fine against the activist.  

 

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu: The joint candidate for CHP (Republican People’s Party) and MHP (Nationalist People’s Party), Ihsanoglu talked to Al Jazeera last year on democracy, discrimination and freedom of speech when he was then Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. When confronted with the question of homophobia, he needed an explanation about what it means and responded that “this is not [a] universal issue”.

 

 

Selahattin Demirtas: The candidate for HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) has been the only candidate so far to address homophobia and transphobia. Using the slogan “imagine a President”, Demirtas is shown in posters which read “imagine a President who does not discriminate.” The candidate of the left-wing party announced a code of conduct named “Call for New Life” today which promises an equal citizenship for all sexual and gender identities.  

 

 

The first Presidential election by popular vote will go for a second round on August 24 if no candidate achieves a simple majority.