The security challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey

In 2009, when this report was first released, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals were among the most vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey. Sadly, this reality remains true today. LGBT refugees, like others, are relegated to conservative small towns, or “satellite cities,” in Turkey’s interior by the Ministry of Interior while they wait for their claims to be processed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). During the long wait, they often fear leaving their homes due to targeted violence from local communities.

Since the 2009 edition of Unsafe Haven, HCA and ORAM have documented five violent physical attacks on LGBT asylum seekers and refugees, two sexual assaults, and multiple accounts of verbal harassment and threats. LGBT refugees have limited access to social support, employment and medical care, which is sometimes due to identity-based discrimination. Most significantly, many are afraid to approach the police for protection and they rarely receive adequate police response to their complaints of violence and harassment. Due to this caustic mix of marginalisation in key areas of life, most LGBT refugees live out their time in Turkey in destitution and desperation.

These protection gaps are reinforced by the general intolerance for sexual minorities in Turkey. Although Turkish law does not criminalise homosexual conduct, it provides no protection from hate-motivated violence. In the two years since the 2009 edition of Unsafe Haven: at least forty-five LGBT individuals were murdered in hate-motivated crimes, many of the victims transgender. Likewise, a Turkish criminal court shut down an LGBT organisation for allegedly engaging in prostitution, a common accusation against LGBT advocates. The Minister for Women and Family Affairs referred to homosexuality as a “disease and biological disorder in need of treatment” and the Telecommunications Directorate banned the use of the word “gay” (gey) from Internet domain names.

Against this backdrop, the UNHCR’s office in Ankara has made significant steps towards ameliorating the condition of LGBT refugees in Turkey during the past two years. Most notably, the office has improved its interviewing techniques with LGBT asylum seekers, and has regularly expedited the processing of particularly vulnerable LGBT refugees. These improvements are due to internal policy change, by ORAM and others, and external funding that that has dramatically increased the capacity of UNHCR Turkey to deal with its continuingly increasing caseload. As a result, more LGBT refugees are being expeditiously resettled to safe third countries, minimising their exposure to the harassment, violence, and poverty they face in the satellite cities of Turkey.

In addition to being based on the original 46 in-depth interviews conducted for the 2009 edition of this report, the findings and conclusions in this updated version are based on information provided by 62 LGBT refugees represented jointly by HCA and ORAM since that time. Most LGBT refugees in Turkey come from Iran, which, like six other countries maintains the death penalty for same-sex acts between consenting adults, and like more than 70 other countries, criminalises homosexuality. In addition to Iranians, LGBT refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Sudan have also sought protection in Turkey.

Despite improvements at UNHCR, significant steps are required to ameliorate the plight of Turkey’s LGBT refugees. First and foremost, immediate steps are required to safeguard their physical security, including ongoing, intensive training for local police, and assigning LGBT asylum seekers to live in less hostile locations. Second, the UNHCR must continue to collaborate with the government of Turkey and resettlement countries to find new ways of accelerating resettlement to minimise LGBT refugees’ exposure to violence. These stakeholders should also ensure that appropriate interviewing techniques are utilised in the evaluation of LGBT-based claims and that they create unthreatening environments for these vulnerable refugees. Third, service providers in the Turkish health, public assistance and education sectors should similarly undergo training to ensure that services are provided on an equal basis with other refugees, ideally with support from LGBT organisations. Such training should extend to intake staff, service providers and interpreters, increasing receptivity toward LGBT refugees and creating environments where discrimination and intolerance are minimised. Finally, all stakeholders should revise their codes of conduct to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.