03/09/2025 | Writer: Kaos GL
Politician Sebahat Tuncel spoke to ÜniKuir volunteer Iris as part of the interview series Freedom of Expression, Youth and University in Turkey.
Starting with the slogan “Freedom for Enes, freedom for the youth,” ÜniKuir’s interview series Freedom of Expression, Youth and University in Turkey featured politician Sebahat Tuncel as its guest.
In the interview conducted by ÜniKuir volunteer Iris, Tuncel spoke about the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) LGBTI+ policies during her term as co-chair, the relationship between the women’s movement and the LGBTI+ movement, and the contribution of LGBTI+ rights to Turkey’s climate of peace and democracy.
Tuncel pointed out that LGBTI+ rights are a rarely discussed issue in Turkey and often described as a “problem,” and explained how they approached LGBTI+ rights during her term as co-chair of the HDP as follows:
“Yet the existence and struggle of LGBTI+ people, along with their objection to exclusionary, divisive policies that push life to the margins, should be considered within the context of the most fundamental right to life, human rights, freedom of thought and expression, and the right to organize. At that time, we were discussing the fact that politics, within the gender binary regime, is not only a right for women and men but beyond the gender binary regime and for every segment of society. Fundamental human rights are for everyone. Freedom of thought and expression is for everyone.”
Stating that women’s and LGBTI+ organizations experience the publicization of masculinity more deeply, Tuncel said:
“Behind the deepening of oppression and attacks targeting women and LGBTI+ people, we are not talking about a policy limited to those in power, but about society reproducing the policy of those in power.”
“Making peace demands visible is possible by making LGBTI+ demands part of the table”
Speaking also about the representation of LGBTI+ people in the parliamentary commission that was established, Tuncel stated that the commission should produce a social contract in favor of freedoms for all segments of society:
“The main duty of the commission established in the parliament is to take the necessary legal and political steps for the democratic and peaceful solution of the Kurdish question in Turkey, in other words, to expand the field of democratic politics. It is not a place where all social problems will be solved, but removing the Kurdish question from the ground of conflict is directly linked to Turkey’s democratization. And democratization is only possible on a level where all identities can organize and exist. In fact, we can say that women, workers, and other social segments are also not sufficiently represented at that table. Under these conditions, what is essential is to ensure that even if all social segments cannot be represented at that table, the outcome of that meeting is a social contract in favor of women, in favor of LGBTI+ people, in favor of the working class, in favor of peasants, in favor of freedoms. On this matter, we as women’s organizations, as TJA, are carrying out work. The I Need Peace Initiative also wants to make its demands visible on this issue. Making demands for peace, equality, freedom, and democracy visible at that table is in fact possible by making the demands of women’s organizations, LGBTI+ people, and the working class visible and making them part of that table.”
Tags: human rights, women, trans, lgbti, lezbiyen, gey, biseksüel, interseks
