Turkish LGBTQ candidates sq. off with Erdogan forward of election

ISTANBUL — Esmeray Zeynep Ozadikti says she might land in jail for working as an brazenly trans girl in Turkey’s election. Nonetheless, she believes it’s price it.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Improvement Occasion (AKP) have focused the LGBTQ neighborhood as they enchantment to their Islamist, conservative base forward of Sunday’s elections for president and parliament. The upcoming vote is predicted to be Erdogan’s largest electoral problem in over 20 years in energy. 

One in all Ozadikti’s rivals in Istanbul’s Second District is Inside Minister Suleyman Soylu, who has additionally made anti-LGBT remarks whereas campaigning.

“Ought to they win, their first act would most likely be arresting me,” Ozadikti, 50, mentioned this week.

Homosexuality shouldn’t be unlawful in Turkey and there are pockets of tolerance in locations like Istanbul, the place same-sex {couples} stroll down the road in liberal areas holding fingers.

However Turkey is a conservative nation and anti-LGBTQ discrimination is frequent. ILGA-Europe, the European chapter of the Worldwide Lesbian, Homosexual, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Affiliation, ranked Turkey 48 out of 49 international locations relating to LGBTQ rights and acceptance final 12 months (behind solely Azerbaijan).

Beneath Erdogan, outright discrimination has gotten worse in recent times. 

Satisfaction parades, which had been peaceable for years and attracted tens of hundreds, started being banned in 2015. Police used water cannons and rubber pellets on marchers who defiantly marched regardless.

The parades have continued with protesters taking part in a cat-and-mouse sport with riot police who attempt to cease the marchers by blockading entry to streets.

And members of the neighborhood have additionally confronted outright threats to their lives. In keeping with the LGBTQ advocacy group Kaos, there have been eight killings in 2021 motivated by hate, though it mentioned the quantity is probably going a lot larger as most wouldn’t have been reported.

“I’ve identified and misplaced so a lot of my pals, so a lot of my trans girl pals, to murders, and now after their technology, now I see the Z technology and I see now that I’m additionally dropping my daughters and my sons and my youngsters to murders, as properly,” Ozadikti mentioned. “This election isn’t nearly eliminating the previous system however constructing a extra equitable one for the long run.”

The street into politics for Ozadikti, a former mussels-stand vendor, has been lengthy and twisted.

She moved from a small city close to the Armenian border in northeastern Turkey to Istanbul when she was an adolescent. Later, her feminist activism and work in theater as an actor, tackling matters on sexual id and rape, have made her a minor celeb. 

In her quest to enhance circumstances for her neighborhood, Ozadikti says she approached the principle opposition celebration, the secularist Republican Individuals’s Occasion (CHP), however didn’t discover them inclusive sufficient. 

Finally, she met with members of the Staff’ Occasion of Turkey (TIP), which steered she run as a candidate.

Whereas it polls within the low single digits, the small, leftist celebration has attracted younger voters, and its participation in an alliance might give it elevated affect in parliament if Erdogan’s coalition loses management.  

TIP says it has six brazenly LGBTQ candidates working within the parliamentary elections throughout the nation, with Ozadikti the almost definitely to win. If she does, she can be Turkey’s first brazenly LGBTQ member of parliament. 

With one week to go earlier than the election, Ozadikti sat in a restaurant alongside her fellow celebration members within the Istanbul district she is competing in. 

With a number of MPs popping out of Istanbul’s Second District, each she and the inside minister might find yourself representing the identical space on the identical time.

Whereas politics could be a robust enterprise the world over, the assaults lodged at her by Soylu have been particularly harmful. 

Whereas connecting the opposition to the LGBTQ neighborhood, Soylu, who can be a deputy chairman of Erdogan’s celebration, has mentioned that if the opposition wins, folks can be allowed to marry animals. 

“Him saying such phrases, in fact we’re human, it will get to our feelings,” she mentioned. 

Ozadikti mentioned Soylu’s remarks could possibly be a very potent risk to the LGBTQ neighborhood as a result of, as the inside minister, he has the sources of the police. 

Erdogan himself has repeatedly said that the opposition has ties with the LGBTQ neighborhood, and through a rally on Sunday claimed the opposition is “pro-LGBT.”

When requested concerning the remark, Ozadikti and her colleagues began laughing.

“It’s a really determined assertion,” she mentioned.                

Alev Ozkazanc, professor emeritus of politics and gender research at Ankara College, mentioned the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric within the election is unprecedented.

So the affect of Ozkazanc and different trans candidates goes past their potential victories, she mentioned as a result of even when one in every of them doesn’t get elected, their candidacies alone ship a message to the general public.  

“The symbolic worth is that trans individuals are there, LGBT individuals are there, amongst us. They’re equal residents who’ve the proper to be elected as some other citizen,” Ozkazanc mentioned.

Erdogan’s fundamental challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu from the CHP, leads an alliance of six events that features ultranationalists and conservative Islamists.

TIP has partnered with the influential pro-Kurdish celebration, the HDP, and their assist could also be wanted by the coalition that wins essentially the most seats in parliament to cross any legal guidelines.

A fellow TIP candidate, Talya Aydin, 26, mentioned her celebration would search  justice for  crimes that she mentioned had not been correctly investigated if the opposition alliance turns into the most important group in parliament.

She cites the demise of Hande Kader, a trans girl activist whose killing led to tons of of individuals protesting in Istanbul, in addition to fees towards demonstrators who marched in banned Satisfaction parades.

Like Ozadikti, Aydin mentioned her transgender id places her at an elevated danger of ending up behind bars if Erdogan is re-elected.

“It solely makes me work more durable so he doesn’t win,” she mentioned.

Jail shouldn’t be the one risk she feels she faces. Aydin transitioned final 12 months and mentioned she now takes photos of taxi cabs’ license plates earlier than getting into, and not walks residence at evening together with her headphones on.

However, she added, she is seeing extra acceptance for her neighborhood in Turkish society regardless of the political rhetoric.

The struggling economic system, a key cause Erdoğan’s recognition has waned, has meant many individuals are usually not being influenced by the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric — they’re simply too involved with making ends meet. 

“Hate takes time, hate takes psychological sources, hate takes emotional sources,” she mentioned.