Turkey again second-worst country for LGBTI+s in Europe

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Turkey has ranked 48th out of 49 countries in the "Rainbow Index" of the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA).

ILGA-Europe is an independent, international non-governmental umbrella group bringing together over 600 organizations and has been publishing its annual report each year since 2009.

In the report, ILGA examined the advances made and provided concrete examples of on-the-ground situations at the national level country-by-country in the 12 months from January to December 2021.

For the last four years, Turkey ranks 48th on ILGA Europe's Rainbow Index.

According to KAOS GL, Malta (90 percent), Denmark (74 percent), and Belgium (72 percent) are in the top 3 of the list while Sweden, Luxembourg, and Norway follow these countries with a score of 68 percent.

The last five on the list are Belarus (12 percent), Armenia (8 percent), Russia (8 percent), Turkey (4 percent), and Azerbaijan (2 percent).

The average of all European countries was 38 percent, while the average of European Union member countries was 48 percent, the report reveals.

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LGBTI+ rights violations Turkey

The highest rank Turkey has achieved since 2009 was 41, surpassing countries like Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Macedonia, and Belarus.

Turkey's score was around 14-15 percent until 2015. However, it decreased to 12 percent in 2015, and to 9 percent in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Since 2020 Turkey's score is 4 percent.

In the Turkey section of the report, the LGBTI+ rights violations that took place in Turkey in 2021 are explained in detail.

The three-page Turkey report includes many topics such as the situation of LGBTI+ refugees in Turkey, the discriminatory statements made by Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and other politicians about LGBTI+ rights, and the hate speech against the national volleyball player Ebrar Karakurt.

The report also covered the Boğaziçi University Protests in detail. In addition to these, the report also includes Turkey's withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention, the bans during Pride Week, and the harassment of law enforcement in Küçük Bayram Street where trans sex workers work there.

ILGA made the following recommendations for Turkey:

*Giving LGBTI people protection under the constitution, by expressly referring to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.

*Removing obstacles to the effective exercise of freedom of assembly and association for LGBTI organizations, and ensure state protection and the safety of LGBTI human rights defenders.

*Explicitly including all SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics) grounds in an equality action plan, accompanied by specific mechanisms to measure progress.

CLICK :You can reach the whole report from here.

You can reach the Turkey page of the ILGA index from here, and the Turkey report of the ILGA index from here.(EMK/TB)