- Homosexuality
- ⚢✔ Legal
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✖ Unrecognized
- Censorship
- ✖ State-enforced
- Changing Gender
- ✖ Legal, but requires surgery
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✔ Legal
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✖ Not legally recognized
- Discrimination
- ✖ Illegal in some contexts
- Employment Discrimination
- ✖ Sexual orientation only
- Housing Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Adoption
- ✖ Single only
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- ✖ Not banned
- Military
- ✖ Illegal
- Donating Blood
- ✖ Banned (indefinite deferral)
- Conversion Therapy
- ✖ Not banned
- Age of Consent
- ✔ Equal
Public Opinion
Recent studies in Turkey show a discernible level of opposition to LGBTQ+ rights among the population.
Perception of LGBTQ+ People
Survey results from 26 LGBTQ+ Equaldex users who lived in or visited Turkey.
Overall
Perceived Safety**Survey results represent personal perceptions of safety and may not be indicative of current actual conditions.
Equal Treatment
Visibility & Representation
Culture
Services
History
Homosexual activity in Turkey is legal.
In the 13 century, Chingis Kahn established the Yasa, or Code of Laws and Ordinances, which his successors continued to rule by. Although some scholars suspect Chingis Khan's Yasa only codified existing customary law others believe it served to supplement and fill any gaps left by customary law, especially in criminal law.
According to fragments from the Egyptian Historian Makrizi, sodomy was punishable by death as an offense against religion, morals, and established customs.
Adultery was similarly defined as a crime punishable by death. Marriage was demarcated by a law that ordained "that the man should buy his wife" and hence prescribed strict gender roles on family operation.
Same-sex marriage in Turkey is unrecognized.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Turkey is state-enforced.
Turkey’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce requires online shops to mark LGBT-themed products with a minimum age of 18+. Companies who do not comply have their advertising suspended.
Board members of the ministry agreed that not listing such products with a warning risks children’s ”mental, psychological and social development”.
Right to change legal gender in Turkey is legal, but requires surgery.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Turkey is not legally recognized.
LGBT discrimination in Turkey is illegal in some contexts.
LGBT employment discrimination in Turkey is sexual orientation only.
LGBT housing discrimination in Turkey is no protections.
Same-sex adoption in Turkey is single only.
Intersex infant surgery in Turkey is not banned.
Serving openly in military in Turkey is illegal.
Military service for 6 months is mandatory for all men in Turkey.
Until 2015, in order to be exempt, gay men must prove homosexuality by providing photographic evidence of them being on the receiving end of anal intercourse.
Blood donations by MSMs in Turkey is banned (indefinite deferral).
Conversion therapy in Turkey is not banned.
Equal age of consent in Turkey is equal.
LGBT Rights by Province
View the LGBT laws in each individual province of Turkey.
- Adana
- Adiyaman
- Afyonkarahisar
- Agri
- Aksaray
- Amasya
- Ankara
- Antalya
- Ardahan
- Artvin
- Aydin
- Balikesir
- Bartin
- Batman
- Bayburt
- Bilecik
- Bingöl
- Bitlis
- Bolu
- Burdur
- Bursa
- Denizli
- Diyarbakir
- Düzce
- Edirne
- Elazig
- Erzincan
- Erzurum
- Eskisehir
- Gaziantep
- Giresun
- Gümüshane
- Hakkâri
- Hatay
- Igdir
- Isparta
- Istanbul
- Izmir
- Kahramanmaras
- Karabük
- Karaman
- Kars
- Kastamonu
- Kayseri
- Kilis
- Kirikkale
- Kirklareli
- Kirsehir
- Kocaeli
- Konya
- Kütahya
- Malatya
- Manisa
- Mardin
- Mersin
- Mugla
- Mus
- Nevsehir
- Nigde
- Ordu
- Osmaniye
- Rize
- Sakarya
- Samsun
- Sanliurfa
- Siirt
- Sinop
- Sirnak
- Sivas
- Tekirdag
- Tokat
- Trabzon
- Tunceli
- Usak
- Van
- Yalova
- Yozgat
- Zonguldak
- Çanakkale
- Çankiri
- Çorum