‘Constitutional rights cannot be violated based on religious criteria’

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18 non-governmental organizations have criticized the Ministry of Justice for calling the LGBTI+s "haram" (forbidden by religion) in a reply to the Constitutional Court as part of the lawsuit filed against Boğaziçi University students over an artwork depicting Kaaba, a holy place in Islam.

Criticizing the Ministry for copy-pasting from the indictment as well, the NGOs have released the following written statement:

"Using the religious literature on homosexuality as a reference about a legal matter, which was cited in the indictment and apparently embraced by the Ministry in its response to the Constitutional Court, is incompatible with the principle of secularism; its rejection is imperative.

"Sexual orientation is, without a doubt, within the sphere of protection of equality before the law and the prohibition of discrimination.

"In the face of the Constitutional Court and ECtHR judgements about this issue, it cannot be alleged that discrimination based on sexual orientation - with religious references - is rightful and legitimate.

"We urge the Justice Ministry's Human Rights Department to take up a behavior and attitude that is worthy of its name and to 'make efforts to eliminate human rights violations...' as one of its duties cited in its founding decree instead of laying claim to a legal text which is written with religious references and carries the characteristics of a human rights violation."

The undersigned: 3H Movement Association, Ankara 78's Assembly, Ankara Initiative of Freedom for Thought, Intervening Boğaziçi Alumni, Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Ankara Branch, Çanakkale Women's Solidarity, Union for Democracy (DİB), Dialogue Group, Eastern-Southeastern Associations (DGD) Platform, Initiative for Freedom of Expression, Eşitiz - Equality Monitoring Women's Group, Fethiye Women's Solidarity Association, Women's Party, Kırmızı Biber Association, Street Witches Women's Association, University Faculty Members Association (ÜNİVDER), Citizens' Initiative, Citizens' Assembly

What happened?

The Ministry of Justice responded to the Constitutional Court in a case concerning an artwork depicting Kaaba, a holy place in Islam, and on display at an exhibition by the Boğaziçi University LGBTI+ Club.

While 7 students were charged with "inciting the people into hatred and animosity" and two were briefly arrested over the artwork, one of the students applied to the Constitutional Court after their release.

Responding to the top court in this context, the head of the Ministry of Justice Department of Human Rights, Dr. Hacı Ali Açıkgül, cited homophobic remarks in the indictment of the case, Kaos GL reported.

The ministry's statement repeated some expressions in the indictment such as "images regarding homosexuality and similar sexual orientations that are considered forbidden and haram [fobbidden] in the Islamic religious literature," "[the artwork in the exhibition] incites a section of the public into hatred and animosity against another section that has different characteristics in terms of a social section known as the LGBTI+ and the Muslim citizens which make up the majority of the Turkish society."

While the civil society organizations criticized the Ministry over these expressions, the Ministry responded that the related religious references in its written correspondence were cited in the indictment and it conveyed the findings in the indictment in its response to the Constitutional Court, which is a method used in all responses sent to the top court.

The religious grounds mentioned in the indictment were found appropriate and "legal" by the Ministry of Justice and it was indicated that "their factual bases were put forward in the indictment as well." (HA/SD)