"Do Ask, Do Tell: The Excln of Gay Men om Universal Male Conscrip" by Barrett Greenwell

Contents:

• TURKEY’S GAY SOLDIERS THE CROSSHAIRS
• PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY
• GAYS SEEKG ARY EXEMPTN TURKEY NO LONGER NEED TO PROVI VISUAL PROOF OF THEIR HOMOSEXUALY
• TURKISH GAYS AND THE ARY
• GAY THE TURKISH ARMY
• ARE YOU A GAY MAN? HERE ARE THE HORRIFYG WAYS THE TURKISH ARMY WILL ASK YOU TO PROVE IT
• TURKISH GAYS FACE GRADG TTS TO AVOID ARMY

TURKEY’S GAY SOLDIERS THE CROSSHAIRS

"Ahmet, a young man his 20s, told officials he was gay at the first opportuny after he was lled up, as he and other nscripts unrwent a health check. '' Instead he gave them a photograph of himself kissg another hop this will give him what he needs - a "pk certifite", which will clare him homosexual and therefore exempt om ary the years, gay life has been beg more visible Turkey's big ci.

PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY

Caf and clubs wh an openly gay clientele have been openg Istanbul, and last summer's gay pri march - unique the Mlim world - was the largt while there are no specific laws agast homosexualy Turkey, openly gay men are not wele the army.

GAYS SEEKG ARY EXEMPTN TURKEY NO LONGER NEED TO PROVI VISUAL PROOF OF THEIR HOMOSEXUALY

At the same time, they have to "prove" their homosexualy orr to avoid ary, nscripted the late 1990s, very quickly realised that he was not ma for the army. ''I had a fear of guns, '' he ptn, Last summer's gay pri march Istanbul was the largt ever held TurkeyAs a gay man he was also aaid of beg bullied, and after ltle more than a week he plucked up the urage to clare his sexual orientatn to his manr.

Sometim, stead of photographs, doctors rely on a "personaly tt" Turkish army refed BBC requts for an terview, but a retired general, Armagan Kuloglu, agreed to gay men the army would e "disciplary problems", he says, and would be impractil creatg the need for "separate facili, separate dormori, showers, trag areas" says that if a gay man keeps his sexualy secret, he n serve - an echo of the US ary's recently dropped Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.

TURKISH GAYS AND THE ARY

"But when someone out and says he is gay, then the army needs to make sure that he is tly gay, and not simply lyg to eva his mandatory duty to serve the ary. ''The social stigma associated wh homosexualy Turkey is such that outsi the young and urbanised circl big ci like Istanbul and Ankara, is hard to image a man clarg that he's gay when he's not.

"Doctors are g unr immense prsure om their manrs to diagnose homosexualy, and they obey, even though there really are no diagnostic tools to terme sexual orientatn, '' says one psychiatrist who formerly worked at a ary hospal. And next to that, brackets, ''homosexualy'''s ary hospals still fe homosexualy as an illns, takg a 1968 versn of a document by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn as their people Turkey say wh rentment that gay men are actually lucky, as at least they have one possible route out of ary service - they don't have to spend months the barracks, or face the possibily of beg ployed to fight agast Kurdish for openly gay men, life n be far om is not unmon for employers Turkey to qutn job applints about their ary service - and a pk certifite n mean a job of Gokhan's employers found out about not by askg Gokhan himself but by askg the that, he says, he was bullied. Current VersnRegnTurkeyIssueServg openly aryStatIllegalStart DatepastEnd DatenowDcriptnMilary personnel found to be homosexual are dismissed unr laws that classify homosexualy as a "psychosexual disorr/illns".

GAY THE TURKISH ARMY

In orr to be exempt, gay men mt prove homosexualy by providg photographic evince of them beg on the receivg end of anal 13, 2022 Revisn by Samanthos. Sourc (26)Stat is not rrect "Homosexualy is beg stated as “psychosexual disorr” pk certifite that is given to ‘bottom’ men who are exced om Turkish Army. "Jul 4, 2021Note field is rrect "Source don't support rmatn"Jun 14, 2021Stat is not rrect "There is no mentn of this the attached document"May 20, 2021Stat is not rrect "Homosexuals are not allowed the ary per the lked source.

ARE YOU A GAY MAN? HERE ARE THE HORRIFYG WAYS THE TURKISH ARMY WILL ASK YOU TO PROVE IT

Oct 12, 2020Stat is not rrect "Havg checked the given source, there is no rmatn about any judicial statement about the patibily of 'passive' gays the ary Turkey. As an ex-soldier who did my mandatory ary service the untry and openly intified myself as gay durg the service, I pleted whout any official obstacle. "Mar 2, 2020Stat is not rrect Dec 19, 2019Note field is rrect May 7, 2019Stat is not rrect "Regardls of your preference sex, if you're gay you n't be the army.

"Jan 24, 2016Stat is not rrect "Engagg homosexual terurse is crimal offence the Turkish ary, legally speakg, don't matter if the person is passive or active (although, the perceptn may differ)"Jan 22, 2016Stat is not rrect "actually turks gay people have to go lary don't matter top or bottom. Turkey mak difficult for potential nscripte to avoid the draft, generally makg exceptns only for those who are sick, disabled or homosexual.

TURKISH GAYS FACE GRADG TTS TO AVOID ARMY

To receive an exemptn based on their sexualy, men mt publicly clare they are gay — a claratn that ensur discrimatn will follow them for the rt of their liv.

As if that isn't bad enough, until last week, to receive the exemptn men also had to prove their homosexualy by unrgog nu examatns and submtg photos of themselv engaged  homosexual terurse. “Beg gay Turkey is difficult, but for a gay of draft age, the difficulti bee a hell, ” Ahmet K., a 27-year-old homosexual Turk, told Al-Monor Istanbul. Ahmet, who pleted his ary service last year, said, “To start wh, the medil examatn [to terme fns] for ary service is perhaps the first challenge your life that forc you to make a choice between your gay inty and social reali.

In newspaper terviews Augt 2014, another homosexual, Kaan Anter (a psdonym), unrled that for some gays, bravg the “unf report” is out of the qutn. The referee’s lawyer, Firat Soyler, argued the ma problem stemmed om the Turkish ary’s classifitn of homosexualy as “a psychosexual disorr. The Turkish Armed Forc’ Physil Capabili Regulatn, issued 1986, listed homosexualy as an “advanced psychosexual disorr, ” a mental illns.

” The amendment troduced the tegory of “sexual inty and behavral disorrs, ” which effectively meant that homosexualy was now acknowledged as a chosen inty and the ary no longer saw as an illns. ” That clse of the amendment was another ditn that the army’s tegoril rejectn of homosexualy as an illns was replaced wh a softer fn classifyg as a source of adaptatn and functnaly problems.

Unr the Turkish Armed Forc Disciple Law, homosexualy is a reason for expulsn om the ary for missned and nonmissned officers, as well as for ary school stunts. Durg my doctoral studi  the summer of 2015, I nducted a survey among some 1, 300 officers askg whether homosexuals should be allowed to serve the army.

That said, the improvement the pre-draft medil examatn, which vers about 500, 000 young men four terms each year, reprents a major step forward observg the basic human rights of homosexual dividuals and remov a signifint source of cricism the Turkish ary has faced for years.

Milary service is mandatory Turkey, and s policy on homosexuals servg the ary is que different om the recently repealed US policy of 'don't ask, don't tell'. The turkish ary cled to ment but did issue a statement explag s policy on homosexualy and nyg that asks for photos � or even nsirs them.