Transphobic business owner, employee sentenced to prison for ‘discrimination’

"Trans women are women" (Photo: Özge Özgüner / csgorselarsiv.org)

Click to read the article in Turkish / on ATÖLYE BİA (Turkish)

In Turkey's capital city of Ankara, three trans people were verbally assaulted when they went to the Köroğlu Tripe Restaurant in 2017. The business owner and the employees did not let them in. They were told, "You cannot enter, the boss has strict orders, we don't serve transvestites."

Janset Kalan and her friend called the police and later took the issue to court. The legal proceedings have recently come to an end.

At the final hearing of the case heard at the Ankara 15th Criminal Court of First Instance on November 12, 2021, the court board ruled that the business owner of the Köroğlu Tripe Restaurant (O.G.D.) and the chief waiter should be sentenced to prison on charge of "hatred and discrimination" as per the Article 122 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

The pronouncement of the verdict has been suspended. If they commit another crime within 5 years, their sentence will be executed.

'Article 122 was not applied to LGBTI+s'

Emrah Şahin, the lawyer of Janset Kalan and her friend, says that the business owner who committed the crime of discrimination did not attend the hearings and they had to have a warrant issued against him.

Underlining that this court case is important to encourage people to seek their rights, lawyer Şahin briefly says:

"Defendant O.G.D. did not attend the hearings. After a warrant was issued against him, he was caught at the airport and detained. While O.G.D. stated that he had not been there on the day of the incident, it was proven by examinations that he had indeed been there.

"The Article 122 of the TCK was not a law article applied to LGBTI+s until now. It was done in this case. It is an important ruling in that regard. As a lawyer, I think this case is important to encourage individuals to seek their rights. The importance of the ruling handed down here is that it leads the ones discriminated against to think, 'If I file a complaint, I may cause them to be penalized' and encourages them to seek their rights.

'I hope they will file a complaint without enduring'

Janset Kalan, one of the aggrieved people and complainants, says that when she heard the ruling, she tried hard to not applaud:

"Even such a lawsuit being filed as per the Article 122 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) was exciting for me, for us.

"The first prosecutor sent the file to reconciliation on charges of insult and battery. After our lawyer Emrah Şahin lodged an appeal, another prosecutor handled the file; that prosecutor concluded that there was an element of crime, issued the indictment as per the Article 122 of the TCK and filed the lawsuit. I/We were even happy about this decision.

"Now, this judicial process has come to an end and we have won. In pronouncing the opinion as to the accusations, the prosecutor emphasized that the reason for the discrimination was transphobia by saying 'due to gender differences' and it has been written in the ruling in these words.

"At that moment, I tried hard to not applaud. I hope that this case will set a precedent and when trans people are subjected to discrimination, they will file their criminal complaints without enduing."

(EA/SO/SD)