Turkey's gay men mt get a 'pk certifite' to exempt themselv om ary service | The World om PRX

Contents:

• PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY
• TURKEY’S GAY SOLDIERS THE CROSSHAIRS
• GAYS SEEKG ARY EXEMPTN TURKEY NO LONGER NEED TO PROVI VISUAL PROOF OF THEIR HOMOSEXUALY
• TURKISH ARMY ADOPTS 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' POLICY FOR GAY RECS
• GAY THE TURKISH ARMY
• TURKEY'S GAY MEN MT GET A 'PK CERTIFITE' TO EXEMPT THEMSELV OM ARY SERVICE
• TURKISH GAYS AND THE ARY
• TURKEY - BEG GAY OR PAYG YOUR WAY OUT
• CONSCRIPTS TO TURKISH ARMY MT ‘PROVE’ THEY’RE GAY FOR EXEMPTN OM ARY SERVICE

PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY

"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. 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.

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.

TURKEY’S GAY SOLDIERS THE CROSSHAIRS

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.

"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.

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

''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.

Turkey mak difficult for potential nscripte to avoid the draft, generally makg exceptns only for those who are sick, disabled or homosexual.

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.

TURKISH ARMY ADOPTS 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' POLICY FOR GAY RECS

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.

GAY THE TURKISH ARMY

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.

TURKEY'S GAY MEN MT GET A 'PK CERTIFITE' TO EXEMPT THEMSELV OM ARY SERVICE

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. WorldGay men Turkey seekg exemptn om the untry's mandatory ary service mt prove their homosexualy, the BBC reports, even though many army physicians realize 's medilly impossible to terme sexual orientatn.Milary doctors prsured to diagnose sexual orientatns, BBC report saysTurkish honour guard soldiers salute durg a service.

A BBC report says gay Turks wishg to avoid ary service mt prove their homosexualy, often by submtg explic photos or answerg qutnnair om a health panel. (Associated Prs)Gay men Turkey seekg exemptn om the untry's mandatory ary service mt prove their homosexualy, the BBC reports, even though many army physicians realize 's medilly impossible to terme sexual orientatn.The rultg procs to obta a so-lled "pk certifite" allowg gays to dodge nscriptn — and potentially dangero ployments to bat Kurdish separatists — is often huiatg, the Brish public broadster says a documentary airg Tuday. 'They asked me if I liked football, whether I wore women's cloth or ed women's perfume'—Ahmet, gay nscript TurkeyIt's mon for gay men to subm explic photographs, unrgo personaly tts and answer qutnnair about their sexual preferenc.Lackg any valid "diagnostic tools," a physician told the BBC World Service, potential gay drafte mt prepare whatever evince they n to nvce a ary health panel of their homosexualy, sometim emed as a "psychosexual disorr.""They asked me if I liked football, whether I wore women's cloth or ed women's perfume," said one gay nscript his 20s.The man, g the name Ahmet to protect his te inty, said he refed requts to show a health panel pictur of himself drsed as a woman.

TURKISH GAYS AND THE ARY

(Murad Sezer/Associated Prs)One former army psychiatrist said doctors feel prsure om ary manrs to diagnose homosexualy, "even though there really are no diagnostic tools to terme sexual orientatn."''It is medilly impossible, and not at all ethil," he add.There are no laws explicly banng homosexualy Turkey and thoands marched the 2011 gay pri para Istanbul.

TURKEY - BEG GAY OR PAYG YOUR WAY OUT

Still, homosexualy is not wily tolerated and gays n still face discrimatn by employers and -workers.Gays are nsired unf for ary service as they n e "disciplary problems" and would require separate lodggs and washrooms, a retired manr, Armagan Kuloglu, reasoned. "Don't ask, don't tell" policy repealed last October by the Obama admistratn.Homosexuals have been permted to serve openly the Canadian ary sce 1992.Although homosexualy is not wily tolerated  Turkey due to social stigma, the possibily that straight men might feign beg gay to avoid ary service is a ncern for the army, acrdg to the BBC report. The Turkish Armed Forc this month quietly revised a longstandg policy that required gay recs to out themselv, subm lewd photos, and unrgo an "anal exam" to prove they were gay, reports Middle Eastern news outlet Al-Monor.

CONSCRIPTS TO TURKISH ARMY MT ‘PROVE’ THEY’RE GAY FOR EXEMPTN OM ARY SERVICE

As "don't ask, don't tell, " place of the policy that required nscripts to out themselv verbally, subm to an unscientific rectal exam, and to subm photos of themselv havg gay sex before beg discharged bee of their sexual Turkish men between ag 21 and 41 are required to serve 12 months the natn's ary, unls they are granted an exemptn, which Al-Monor scrib as "difficult" to obta, wh ary doctors "generally makg exceptns only for those who are sick, disabled, or homosexual. " But an update ma "silently" to ary policy this month, "doctors will now merely observe the behavrs homosexuals display and the verbal claratns they make, " reports Al-Monor. While Turkey is generally nsired to have a more tolerant and liberal environment than s neighborg natns of Syria and Iraq, homosexualy remas eply taboo.

Even unr the revised ary policy, a self-clared gay inty is still grounds for dismissal for ary school stunts, missned, and nonmissned officers.