“The government doesn’t need to go all the way to far away countries in order to find lesbians and lesbian parents. He is welcome to visit us here at the Kaos GL Association, which is barely 1 kilometre away from the Parliament where he works.”
Kaos GL reacted strongly to the outrageous efforts by Deputy Minister, Bekir Bozdağ, and President of the Human Rights Commission in Parliament, Ayhan Sefer Üstün, regarding the avoidance of giving children who are born in families of Turkish origin to gay and lesbian foster families.
Nevin Öztop, a member of Kaos GL’s Executive Board, commented on the situation: “Bozdağ sees the right to not get killed and the right to live an ordinary life as a luxury for LGBTs in Turkey.”
The Deputy Minister, Bekir Bozdağ, and the President of the Human Rights Commission, Ayhan Sefer Üstün, have started a campaign to take back children born in families of Turkish origins from gay, lesbian and Christian couples. They also emphasized the importance of children being given to “cultures that are much closer to their own”.
It is being requested that Yunus, a boy who was taken from his Turkish family due to the family not fulfilling child care requirements and given to a Christian lesbian couple 9 years ago, be taken back from this family in a court case opened by the “Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities”, a request by Bekir Bozdağ himself.
“Don’t search for lesbians only in other cultures”
Nevin Öztop, evaluating the situation for gay and lesbian couples in Europe hosting children of Turkish origins, said, “The government doesn’t need to go all the way to far away countries in order to find lesbians and lesbian parents. He is welcome to visit us here at the Kaos GL Association, which is barely 1 kilometre away from the Parliament where he works.”
Criticizing the government for not guaranteeing the right to life and a decent life for LGBTs living in Turkey, Öztop added, “Apparently, this same person sees himself entitled to comment on the lives of lesbians living in other countries too!”
“As long as you have a Turkish and hetero family, there is no problem!”
Öztop then added, “Are you telling us that ‘it is not enough to ruin the lives of LGBTs living in our own country and so we also need to ruin others’ abroad’? Are you telling us that ‘violence, cruelty, beating and ill-treatment don’t matter, as long as the family is Turkish and heterosexual and that the problem should then be covered up?’ Being a parent means teaching a world of respect, love, self-esteem, creativity and nonviolence. I suppose, Mr. Minister, these terms will unfortunately be our very starting points to solve the issue.”
