Turkey’s Gay Soldiers the Crosshairs

Contents:

• PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY
• TURKISH GAYS FACE GRADG TTS TO AVOID ARMY
• ARE YOU A GAY MAN? HERE ARE THE HORRIFYG WAYS THE TURKISH ARMY WILL ASK YOU TO PROVE IT
• GAYS SEEKG ARY EXEMPTN TURKEY NO LONGER NEED TO PROVI VISUAL PROOF OF THEIR HOMOSEXUALY
• HOW TO PROVE A TURK IS GAY
• TURKISH ARMY ADOPTS 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' POLICY FOR GAY RECS
• TURKEY’S GAY SOLDIERS THE CROSSHAIRS
• TURKEY'S GAY MEN MT GET A 'PK CERTIFITE' TO EXEMPT THEMSELV OM ARY SERVICE
• GAY THE TURKISH ARMY
• TURKISH GAYS AND THE ARY
• BEG A GAY MAN THE TURKISH ARY
• THE 100% ACCURATE GAY TT ?️‍?
• AM I GAY? QUIZ – 100% RELIABLE TT

PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY

'' 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.

TURKISH GAYS FACE GRADG TTS TO AVOID 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. "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.

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

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. 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.

(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 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.

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

""They asked me if I liked football, whether I wore women's cloth or ed women's perfume, " said one gay nscript his 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. (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.

HOW TO PROVE A TURK IS GAY

"''It is medilly impossible, and not at all ethil, " he are no laws explicly banng homosexualy Turkey and thoands marched the 2011 gay pri para Istanbul. Still, homosexualy is not wily tolerated and gays n still face discrimatn by employers and 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. 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.

A small pk certifite listg the reason for exemptn is issued; if you are gay, the certifite will read, ''psychosexual disorr'' and ''homosexualy" brackets next to gay men are prohibed om ary service of any kd, the procs for termg and then "diagnosg" them as gay is an credibly difficult huiatg and meang one. Acrdg to this BBC article, here are some of the ways you mt prove you are gay to the Turkish army before you are allowed to take that psychosexual disorr elsewhere:Answer qutns regardg your preference on football, wearg women's clothg, and/or perfume. 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.

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

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.

TURKEY’S GAY SOLDIERS THE CROSSHAIRS

” 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. In 2010, one article the German news magaze Der Spiegel, entled “Porn for the General” (Popp 2010), ed some sensatn bee acced the ary of storg the biggt gay porn llectn Turkey (Hearn, Biricik & Joelsson 2016, 33).

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

To pe a prevailg homophobia and anti-gay vlence the ary, many gay men seek exemptn om ary service on grounds of their homosexualy which is classified a “psychosexual disorr. ” Addnally, they refer to the social stigma surroundg homosexualy Turkey which materializ the “unf report, ” also lled “rotten report, ” that gay men receive after beg discharged.

“gettg this report means that you disclose and document your gay inty […] this means social excln, loss of job opportuni, no chance of beg a public employee, creasg snubs and prsure om your social environment.

GAY THE TURKISH ARMY

Even though provg practic have been amend and now ary doctors evaluate a person’s homosexualy “only” based on his behavr and verbal claratn of beg gay, rectal examatns as a proof of homosexualy offer an sightful se to theoretilly engage wh the qutn of how bodi are done by lotg some kd of proof wh them. By lookg at how gay men Turkey provi and produce photographic evince of themselv durg terurse and unrgo the medil examatn of their anal ton’s elasticy (Çar 2014), I attend to how a specific homosexual body emerg the provg practic. As a rult, a foc on assemblag and enacted ontologi should not oblerate the important work done on how homosexualy has been brought to existence as the “viant Other” medi-scientific disurs (Fouult 1978; Terry 1995).

In his analysis of nscript to the Turkish ary, Biricik (2012) posns gay men’s strategi to be exempted and receive the “rotten report” wh the natn-state’s propagatn of hegemonic masculy.

” He further shows how gay men make e of this fixed hegemonic masculy by adoptg the “medilized notn of viancy” (ibid, 96) their genr performance durg examatn. Followg Latour and Woolgar ([1979] 1986) on the nstctn of scientific facts, homosexualy be a stable fact the ary hospal through s rporatn a body of knowledge.

TURKISH GAYS AND THE ARY

Doctors addnally e the photographs as evince of not “fakg” medil reports (Biricik 2012, 94), if unterproof suggts that the man’s homosexualy was not that much of a stable object (for stance, if he marri a woman shortly after the examatn). Bodi are moved certa ways, drsed women’s cloths, adorned wh jewelry, pated wh make-up, shaved and modified wh hormon to meet expectatns about the effemate gay (Biricik 2012). Addnally, homosexualy emerg the practice of beg anally perated which is ma visible and proved photographs, like the microspe mak visible thickened vsel walls and prov atherosclerosis.

BEG A GAY MAN THE TURKISH ARY

They are “scribed as beg lked, as beg, ed, aspects of a sgle viance” (Mol 1999, 78): homosexualy is a psychosexual disorr, which materializ an effemate genr exprsn, which impli pleasure beg perated, which modifitns of the an.

For the purpose of ordatg differently enacted homosexuali, the Turkish ary tablished standards of what prov homosexualy such as a certa gree of the anal ton’s elasticy or visual material that shows the person beg anally perated.

Even if enactments of homosexualy are ordated by translatg them, lotg them wh the body or distributg them spatially and temporally, n happen that different ontologi clash. The clashg ontologi may have polil nsequenc as enacted objects terfere and hang together wh other reali, for stance wh the work of Turkish LGBT[1] anizatns advotg agast the ary’s practice of provg homosexualy.

THE 100% ACCURATE GAY TT ?️‍?

I want to e back to the four bodi that marked the statns of this say: Haraway’s cyb, Ja’s ncer butch, Mol’s body multiple, and the homosexual body ( the Turkish ary). In this say, I provid a lerature-based approach to thkg about the emergence of genred bodi wh heterogeno assemblag nsistg of practic aimg at provg homosexualy wh the body, performanc of the body, and disurs about homosexualy wh the Turkish ary. Ptr Zalewski reports on Turkey's ary gay ban:[I]t's practilly impossible for Turkish men to avoid exposure to ary life, and the burn is on them to prove they are unf for service.

AM I GAY? QUIZ – 100% RELIABLE TT

Acrdg to the ary, and Turkish society at large, peratg another man do not necsarily qualify as a homosexual act; only beg perated is undisputedly homosexual. 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. 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. Origally implemented 1986, Turkey's blanket ban on homosexualy the ary ially listed beg gay as a mental illns -- specifilly an "advanced psychosexual disorr.

" Al-Monor reports the language of that rejectn was softened 2013, tegorizg a gay inty as part of a "sexual inty and behavral disorrs, " "which effectively meant that homosexualy was now acknowledged as a chosen inty and the ary. Turkey's ary hospals still fe homosexualy as an illns, acrdg to the BBC, and e a document about sexualy by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn that dat back to 1968 as their gui.