Turkey Urged to Respect LGBT People

09/09/2008 | Writer: KAOS GL

Amnesty International Magazine, NY
August 29, 2008

A local court in Istanbul ordered the closure of the Turkish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender solidarity organization, Lambda Istanbul. The court ruled on May 29 in favor of a complaint by the Istanbul Governor's Office that Lambda Istanbul's objectives were against Turkish "moral values and family structure".

Amnesty International considers it an act of discrimination and a violation of the right to freedom of expression to close or attempt to close organizations on the basis of advocating for the rights of persons with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

Summary of the decision of the court for the closing case against Lambdaistanbul

The text below consists of the summary of the detailed decision of the Beyoglu Court of First Instance on the closing case against Lambdaistanbul.

SUMMARY OF THE DETAILED DECISION
In the decision, quotes from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, alongside many Articles of the Constitution of Turkey. The two quoted ECHR decisions are from 1976and 1997. The former is concerning obscene material directed at children. The quote from the decision is:
Tags: human rights