Ankara Bar Investigated After Criticizing Religious Affairs President over LGBTI+ Remarks

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Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an ex officio investigation against the Ankara Bar Association for degrading religious values adopted by a section of the society.

The investigation came after the bar association's statement criticizing President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş for his remarks on LGBTI+s. Stating that it filed a criminal complaint against Erbaş, the bar association said: "If Erbaş remains in office despite his remarks about LGBTI+s, women and children, no one should be surprised if, in his next speech, he calls on people to light torches and burn women as witches at the squares."

CLICK - Reactions Against President of Religious Affairs' Hate Speech

While numerous rights defenders and LGBTI+ groups criticized Erbaş, who called on people to "fight the sin of homosexuality," senior figures from the government defended him.

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said in a tweet that "Those who speak against Allah, who created the time and space, are disappointed both in this world and in the afterlife."

Fahrettin Altun, the Director of Communications, also tweeted in support of Erbaş, saying that "the principles of Islam cannot be questioned by those who impertinently attack Erbaş."

In his Friday sermon (khutbah) on April 24, Erbaş briefly stated the following:

"People! Islam accepts adultery as one of the greatest harams [sin]. It curses the people of Lot, homosexuality. What is the wisdom of this? The wisdom here is that it brings diseases and degenerates the generation. Hundreds of thousands of people a year are exposed to the HIV virus caused by this great haram, which passes as adultery in the Islamic Literature. Let's come and fight together to protect people from this kind of evil." (EMK/VK)