Sawt Falasteen - Turkey puts 11 on trial for LGBT 'obscenity'

The defendants, leaders of the Genc LGBTI+ association (Young LGBTI+ in Turkish), stand accused of breaching an article of the Turkish constitution on protecting family values, as well as publishing images on social media showing same-sex couples kissing -- deemed "obscene" by the authorities.

They face up to three years in jail and having their civil rights suspended if found guilty by the court in the western city of Izmir.

Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but the LGBT community is frequently targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has blamed it for a declining birth rate.

"This trial arises from a policy of excluding LGBT+ people from the public sphere," said Kerem Dikmen, the association's lawyer.

"It is an attack on freedom of expression and freedom of association," said Dikmen, himself on trial for being a member of the group's supervisory board.

"This is not about obscenity. Activities that are perfectly legitimate, legal and in line with the constitution are being criminalised. It is a form of dehumanisation," he added.

LGBT rights campaigners have appealed against another court ruling issued in December ordering the association's dissolution on the basis of the same charges.

"We will not give up defending human rights. But they are trying to send a message to society through us," said Dikmen.

The next hearing in the case is slated for October 14.

A draft amendment of Turkey's penal code that proposed prosecuting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people for behaviour deemed "contrary to biological sex and general morality" and promoting such behaviour in Turkey was withdrawn last November.

Since 2015, the annual Pride march has been almost systematically banned and suppressed in the country.

L.Hussein--SF-PST