Court Rejects Attempt to Shut LGBT Group

The Head Public Prosecutor's Office in Ankara has rejected the suit filed by the Ankara Deputy Governor to shut down the KAOS Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Foundation (KAOS GL). The prosecutor's office decided that KAOS GL's name and statues were not contrary to morality and that a suit to close the organization had no grounds. Ankara Deputy Governor Selahattin Ekremoglu had filed the suit to close KAOS GL on the grounds that the organization's existence was "contrary to law and morality."

KAOS GL hailed the decision as a great step forward in the process of abolishing discrimination on the basis of sexuality in every sphere of social life, and as an affirmation of the equality and justice that is the right of LGBT people in all areas of life.

Press Prosecutor Kürşat Kayral announced the office's decision on Wednesday. In the decision, it was clarified that recent reforms to Law 5253 (which concerns societies and foundations) take into account the EU's political criteria, the Accession Partnership Document, the European Convention on Human Rights, and international human rights agreements to which Turkey is a party.

The decision explained that the law's basic philosophy was to provide for the ability of societies and foundations to act freely, independent of official positions or public opinion. It said that the law is to be used to facilitate the founding and operation of societies and groups, and cannot be used by the government to repress them. Referring to international agreements and to the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights , the decision noted that the American Psychiatric Association does not define homosexuality by itself as dysfunctional. It also pointed out that the words "lesbian" and "gay" are widely used in daily life and in scholarly research. Therefore, it stated, "These struggles change in accordance with society. In a period when the subject of whether or not the new Turkish Civil Law should include provisions against discrimination on the basis of sexual morality, to be homosexual cannot mean to be immoral. Those who strive towards moral ethics must have the common meeting point that it is necessary for human will to be free." The decision, expressing the opinion that the KAOS GL's name and goals "are not found to be a subject that can be defined as contrary to morality," also stated the need for officials to take international agreements into account when filing suits for the closure of organizations.

Members of KAOS GL and other Turkish and international LGBT rights groups praised the decision, but said that the Deputy Governor's campaign had made the need for a law specifically prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexuality clear.