STATEMENT BY NGOS
'Justice Ministry's reply on Boğaziçi LGBTI+ case challenges secularism'
Photo: Dilek Şen/bianet
Click to read the article in Turkish
Thirteen NGOs and initiatives issued a joint statement on the Ministry of Justice's letter to the Constitutional Court regarding the detentions at Boğaziçi University over an artwork depicting Kaaba, the most sacred place in Islam.
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Student Selahattin Can Uğuzeş, who was remanded in custody on January 30 and released at his first hearing on 17 March, had filed an individual application to the Constitutional Court through his lawyers Levent Pişkin and Deniz Yıldız on grounds that his individual freedom and right to security have been violated. Head of the Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Department, Dr. Hacı Ali Açıkgül, had responded to the Constitutional Court on the application. Once again, the Ministry had referred to homophobia in its copy-paste reply from the indictment. The following phrases employed in the indictment issued by the prosecutor's office were repeated in the letter; "Symbols pertaining to homosexuality and similar sexual orientations which are forbidden and considered as haram in the Islamic literature, incite hatred and enmity among a segment of the society having different aspects in terms of social class against the other segment, in view of a social segment called LGBTI+ and Muslim citizens which constitute a large majority of the society." |
Full text of the statement:
"Two students were detained due to an exhibition opened by students at Boğaziçi University, and then they were subjected to court cases on grounds for inciting hatred and enmity among people.
"Two detained students had filed an individual application to the Constitutional Court on grounds that their individual freedom and right to security were violated.
"In its reply letter to the Constitutional Court last week, the Ministry of Justice had noted that the detentions were in compliance with the law and the constitution while referring to religious grounds which explicitly challenged the principle of a secular state governed by the rule of law.
"In its letter, Ministry of Justice notes that "in Islamic religious literature symbols of homosexuality and similar sexual orientations were forbidden and haram" therefore argues that the detentions are based on legal grounds. The Ministry of Justice's targeting persons of different sexual orientations with reference to Islamic literature corresponds to 'inciting hatred and enmity among people" and constitute a clear and imminent danger'."
"Public institutions are obliged to act in accordance with the Constitution and secular rules of law in their actions and procedures. It is a clear and definite principle that in a secular state governed by the rule of law, the political and legal fundamental order of the state can not be based on religious rules even partially.
"This principle has been loud and clear under constitutional article 24, and constitutional provisions are fundamental rules, binding for everyone.
"The attempt by the Ministry of Justice's in their letter of reply, where there is an effort to embed something they claim is wrong and prohibited religion-wise into the scope of the crime of 'openly inciting people to hatred and animosity' in the Penal Code, is unacceptable. This means that a State institution, whose legitimacy lies with the constitution, crushes over and ignores the constitutional principle, which decrees that the legal order cannot be founded on religious norms. Secular-founded legal understanding and State order are the guarantees that are of vital importance for all segments of society.
"Therefore we deem the reply of the Ministry of Justice as grave and dangerous and fundamentally against our country's legal system, thus reject it."
The signatory organizations: Association of 3H Movement / Ankara Council of the 78s / Ankara Freedom for Thought Initiative / Intervening Boğaziçi Alumni / Contemporary Jurists' Association Ankara Branch /Union for Democracy (DİB) / Dialogue Group / Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Right Centre / Eastern-South Eastern Associations (DGD) Platform / Initiative against Thought Crime (!?) / Faculty Members Association / Citizens' Initiative / Citizens Assembly.
What happened?President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Prof. Melih Bulu as the rector of Boğaziçi University on January 2 pursuant to a presidential decree. Back in 2015, Bulu had run for the parliament as a nominee-candidate from the ranks of AKP. Objecting to the fact that, for the first time ever, a name from outside the University had been appointed, and calling Bulu a "trustee", students held a demonstration at Boğaziçi University on January 4th where the police intervened, using pepper gas and rubber bullets against students. The gates of the University were locked with a handcuff. To protest Bulu, Boğaziçi academics showed their reactions to the rector's hand-over ceremony, and launched the demonstration of "turning their backs to the rector's building." Police raided the homes of the students, participating in the demonstrations. Numerous students were detained. The police intervened in each and every manifestation that took place in different places and at different times since January 4. In the demonstrations that followed Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu's putting off the LGBTİ+ and the students in the crosshairs due to a [photo] drawing/exhibition, the police entered the university [campus] as well. Boğaziçi students received support from numerous places including İzmir, Ankara, and Samsun as well as from various universities. At least 600 students that participated in the Boğaziçi protests were detained, and more than 25 people were placed under house arrest. Eight university students are still arrested in remand. Students, alumni, employees and academics who say "We want no trustee rector", "Melih Bulu to Resign" have been protesting since January 4. |
(EMK/VK)