Written declaration No. 519 | Doc. 12918 | 26 April 2012

Degrading treatment applied to gay men by excluding them from service in the Turkish Armed Forces

Signatories: Ms Lise CHRISTOFFERSEN, Norway, SOC ; Ms Karin ANDERSEN, Norway, UEL ; Mr Lennart AXELSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Doris BARNETT, Germany, SOC ; Ms Sílvia Eloïsa BONET PEROT, Andorra, SOC ; Mr Tor BREMER, Norway, SOC ; Mr Michael CONNARTY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Gvozden Srećko FLEGO, Croatia, SOC ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Mr Jonas GUNNARSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Carina HÄGG, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Susanna HUOVINEN, Finland, SOC ; Ms Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Carina OHLSSON, Sweden, SOC ; Mr Ivan RAČAN, Croatia, SOC ; Ms Mette REISSMANN, Denmark, SOC ; Ms Maria de Belém ROSEIRA, Portugal, SOC ; Ms Marlene RUPPRECHT, Germany, SOC ; Mr Ludo SANNEN, Belgium, SOC ; Ms Ingjerd SCHOU, Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Jim SHERIDAN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Karin S. WOLDSETH, Norway, EDG

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

According to the US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report on Turkey,

“Openly gay men were not allowed to perform military service for “health reasons” due to their sexual orientation; those requesting military exemption for reasons of sexual orientation had to undergo an invasive burden of proof (…). LGBT groups complained that gay men were required to show photos of themselves in overtly sexual positions and to undergo thorough medical evaluations to prove their homosexuality to military officials.”

A report by Amnesty International (June 2011), and a BBC World Service documentary, (March 2012), have raised similar concerns.

In 1999 the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Smith & Grady v. the United Kingdom that exclusion of lesbians and gay men from service in the armed forces was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

We call upon the Turkish authorities to cease this degrading treatment of gay men, and to enable them to serve in the armed forces once the training and disciplinary measures have been taken to ensure that they can serve without danger of violence and discrimination.