Montenegron Forum Progres Speaks Up for Trans Community in Turkey

The letter prepared by the organization has received great international support and it will be delievered to and read in front of the Turkish Embassy in Montenegro on May 16, 2012, at 11:30. The letter will be delivered also to Turkish Embassies in Italy, Malta, Georgia, Australia and Belarus. The call will be addressing the Ambassador of Turkey to Montenegro Kesoğlu, Prime Minister of Turkey Erdoğan and President of Turkey Gül and urging them take the necessary measures to revise Turkish legislations  to stop police violence and discrimination against trans people at all levels and in all public spheres.

 

The letter and the organizations and individuals endorsing the call are listed below:

  

Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

 

Dear Mr Erdogan,

 

As we recognize Turkey as a country that tents to be a member of the European Union and respects values of modern democratic society we felt the urge to point out the problems that certain minority groups such as transgender persons facing with.

 

Discrimination, humiliation, harassment, physical and verbal violence are just some of the situations that LGB and especially T persons are facing with on daily basis. But the most shocking fact is that the transgender persons are being killed on the streets of Turkey just because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

 

We want to draw your attention on the three last death cases that happened recently:

 

 

1.      The case of young girl named Tuğçe. She was shot by a bullet and murdered in a car in Karabağlar town in İzmir. She was only 23 years old.

 

2.      The case of transgender person that has been killed in the same week in which Tuğçe was killed. She was stabbed around 40 times to her death. Her name was Nüket.

 

 

Even if we are from Montenegro and we do not live in Turkey we sympathize with all of transgender persons who are paying the price of being different!

 

We would like to emphasize the fact LGB and T are equal member of Turkish society.

 

In order to make this issue more visible , organizations and individuals from all around the World  joined together to write this letter with a purpose of raising awareness of this particular problem.

 

We want to believe that government of Turkey and yourself will do all that is in your power to prevent any kind of hate speech and violence from happening.

 

To make this letter more functional we have made the list of approaches that we expect that government of Turkey needs to fulfill in order to make LGBT and especially T persons feel equal part of the Turkish society.

 

By applying these demands Turkey will be recognized as a country that tends to improve quality of life of all its citizens without exceptions.

 

We urge Turkish Government to fulfill following requests:

 

1.      Full implementation of Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, revision of the Turkish Law on Domestic Violence fully based on and in parallel of the CoE Convention; including "sexual orientation and gender identity". (Turkey is the first country ratifying the CoE Convention, while after few months enacted a law which doesn't include gender identity and/or expression as one of the grounds for discrimination).

 

2.      Enact the anti-discrimination code which waits for discussion in the parliament through adding the phrase of “sexual orientation and gender identity” as one of the grounds.

 

3.      Prepare and enact hate crimes legislation in collaboration with the civil society circles and adding “sexual orientation and gender identity” as one of the grounds not to be discriminated.

 

4.      As required by OSCE-ODIHR, Turkey should keep the statistics of gender identity-based hate crimes/murders as part of the work of the General Directorate of Security and share it with the public when asked.

 

5.      All laws, which are intentionally used against trans persons like the Law on Misdemeanors, the Traffic Law, Turkish Penal Code, Law on Sex Work, Law on Public Health, etc. should be revised in a way to eliminate all vague terms like "exhibitionism", "obscenity", etc.

 

6.      Existing legislation on "sex work" should be changed in parallel with the demands of all sex worker groups in the country.

 

7.      Establish an employment strategy with full inclusion of transgender persons.

 

8.      Start a program with the aim of training all relevant law-enforcement bodies, like the police and the judiciary, for sensitizing these institutions for the rights of transgender persons.

 

9.      Fully investigate all incidents where police officers used ill-treatment and torture against transgender persons and sentence the perpetrators.

 

10. Start a public campaign to sensitize the citizens against all forms of violence against transgender persons.

 

11. Stop the policy of the police of arbitrary arrests and fines against transgender persons who are sex workers.

 

12. End the police of the judiciary of decreasing the sentences of perpetrators of transgender murders or attackers.

 

 

 

 

LGBT Forum Progress, Montenegro

Center for Civic Education, Montenegro

Roma Scholarship Foundation, Montenegro

Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro, Montenegro

Center for Anti-Discrimination “Equista”, Montenegro

Anima, Montenegro

Center for Development of Non-Governmental Organizations, Montenegro

Juventas, Montenegro

Lighthouse, Montenegro

4Life, Montenegro

Association PLEGIJE-Niksic, Montenegro

 

 

IDAHO Committee - International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE)

Kaos GL, Turkey

Gays Without Borders, San Francisco, CA, USA

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, United States

Greek Transgendered Support Association, Greece

Athens Pride, Greece

Greek Helsinki Monitor, Greece

We Are - The University of Malta LGBTQQI Organization, Malta

Helem, Lebanon

Gay Belarus, Belarus

Israeli Queers for BDS, Israel

Domine - Split, Cratia

QSport, Croatia

Comitato per i Diritti Civili delle Prostitute Onlus, Italia

Aleanca LGBT, Albania

Queeria centar, Belgrade, Serbia

Belgrade Pride, Serbia

Labris - Lesbian Human Rights Organization, Serbia

STRASS syndicat du travail sexuel, France

Trans-Fuzja Foundation, Poland

 

 

 

 

Zdravko Cimbaljevic, Montenegro

Stevan Milivojevic, Montenegro

Jasmina Kaljić, Montenegro

Ivana Vujovic, Montenegro

Daliborka Uljarevic, Montenegro

Ana Novakovic, Montenegro

Marina Vukovic, Montenegro

Biljana Alkovic, Montenegro

Sasa Mijovic, Montenegro

Luka Katic, Montenegro

Natasa Medjedovic, Montenegro

Jelena Colakovic, Montenegro

Anđa Vukajlović, Montenegro

Sara Radovic, Montenegro

Marina Knezevic, Montenegro

Biljana Bozovic, Montenegro

Milenko Vojičić, Montenegro

Bojana Lakovic, Montenegro

Milica Smolovic, Montenegro

Sasa Miovic, Montenegro

Vojislav Kaludjerovic, Montenegro

Marina Vujačić, Montenegro

Milan Saranovic, Montenegro

Nemanja Bubanja, Montenegro

Milena Kotlaja, Montenegro

Nevin Oztop, Turkey

Kemal Ordek, Turkey

Edlira Mara, Albania

Amarildo Fecanji, Albania

Boban Stojanovic, Serbia

Jovanka Todorovic, Serbia

Janko Jambrosic, Serbia

Dijana Pavlic, Serbia

Aco Tabash, Serbia

Mirjana Kucer, Croatia

Zeljko Blaće, Croatia

Snijezana Matejcic, Croatia

Hana Lilic, Croatia

Nevin Oztop, Turkey

Joel Bedos, Belgium

Daborah Moine, Belgium

Jan Lampaert, Belgium

Panayote Dimitras, Greece

Marina Galanou, Geece

Telis Raptis, Greece

Natallia Mankouskaya, Belarus

Siarhei Androsenka, Belarus

Dr. Uri Bitan, Israel

Yossef(A) Mekyton, Israel

Inaam E., Israel

Mark Mirmelstein, Israel

Joe Hammoud, Lebanon

Jean Salim, Lebanon

Leehee Rothschild, Palestinian Territory, Occupied

Wiktor Dynarski, Poland

Danny Madzhurova, Bulgaria

Robert Fenech, Malta

Luisa Tolu, Malta

Mr. Björn Skolander, Sweden

Ulf Petersson, Sweden

Joe Hawker, United Kingdom

Brenda Towers, United Kingdom

Olaf Moen, Norway

Torill Frøise, Norway

Anita Ketel, Netherlands

Sandra Venema, Netherlands

Khouloud Mahdhaoui, Tunisia

Gabrielle Le Roux, South Africa

Teppo Särkkä, Finland

Cristina Crocco, Italy

Bill C, Germany

Huy Luong, Viet Nam

Adeline Woon, Malaysia

Sumit jamadar, India

Carmine Scinocca, Brazil

Phillipa Watson, Australia

Frank Folino, ON, Canada

Mary Furlong, QC, Canada

David Halperin, MI, USA

John Sanders, CA, USA

Tamara Ching, CA, USA

Michael Deason, CA, USA

Veronika Fimbres, CA, USA

Richard Hollister, AZ, USA

Alison de Saavedra, OH, USA

Nancy Black, MO, USA

Mr. Joe Renneke, MN, USA

Duane Baker, OH, USA

Barbara Vieira, NY, USA

Lydia Price, IL, USA

Kyle Ahlers, MA, USA

Ms. Kathy Johnson, MN, USA

 

Never Hush, Never Share the Crime!