Queer life under Erdogan | DW Documentary

Queer life under Erdogan | DW Documentary

Pembe and her partner Nuray are celebrating Pembe’s birthday together. Being a lesbian couple in Turkey poses various challenges. I love this country in all its many facets, even living here as a lesbian. But, of course, that means you can’t live openly. Turkish President Erdogan will not accept these people. Can we tolerate LGBT? No! The family is sacred to us. No one may criticize this model. Pembe Özkan was born in Turkey but raised in Germany. There, she married another woman, but the couple divorced, and she moved back to Turkey. Her new partner, Nuray, is a German Turk. They both feel a certain pride in their home country, as they stand for the national anthem. But that pride doesn’t extend to how queer people have to live in Turkey. It’s all very hush hush here in Turkey. The people: the women as well as the men, lesbians and gay men – let’s just say L-G-B-T, are in fact scared they’ll be persecuted by the government. They just don’t talk about it. Before the last elections, the ruling party made a major issue of it, saying, Oh, God! If this other party comes to power, they’ll legalize homosexuality, and we’ve got to prevent that! What they’d probably like to do is throw us all in jail. Yes, we’re persecuted. And it’s really too bad. For such a wonderful country, it’s really just too bad. Elsewhere in Turkey, Izmir is called the ‘city of the godless’. Pembe quite likes that. She grew up in a very pious family, which wasn’t always easy for her. My family came from Anatolia, near Ankara. My father was very strict. We’re nine children, and I’m the youngest. I was married off at age 14; at age 17, I separated from him and set out into the big, wide world all alone because I just didn’t want to live like that. I’d always been headstrong and had my own ideas and yearning for freedom. And that’s when I discovered I was a lesbian. Ever since I was 17, I’ve been with the family, but not in the family. How do queer people in Turkey deal with their problems? We asked the activists at an LGBTQ+ counseling service in Izmir. The organization doesn’t have a sign on the door, and we weren’t even told the address until ten minutes before the meeting. Efsan works here as a psychologist. They get no government support whatsoever. Foreign foundations and NGOs finance the service. It’s more relaxed in Izmir because it’s a very secular city. But I cannot say the exact same thing when we move to an Anatolian part or maybe even for other big cities like Istanbul or Ankara. It’s not always safe to be queer here. It says you cannot ban a rainbow. In general, there are in Turkey, I think 10 to 15 NGOs, LGBTIA NGOs, distributed mainly on the big cities, but also in other parts in Turkey. We give consultation services, we provide lawyers, psychologists and we provide peer support to LGBTIA people on very different topics. Where will things go from here for their work and the LGBTQ+ community? We are not so hopeful about the parade because the government’s pressure is so much since the Gezi Protest, 2015. Before that year, almost in all three big cities, there were parades as celebrations. Now we just go and wait for the police to get you and beat you and arrest you. No, I wouldn’t go. It’s just too political, they’ll be watching too closely. As a single person in Turkey, despite my family, I’d be too scared. The governor of Izmir has prohibited LGBTQ+ activists from holding public events, citing morality and decency. Pembe and Nuray keep their private life private. They’ve brought us to their secluded mandarin orchard. I come from Izmir. What can I say, I like my city. There’s nowhere like home. The morals are strict here. Erdogan’s out to protect the sanctity of the family, but that’s his view. It’s different inside your own four walls: that’s my private life, and I stand by it. A few years ago, rainbow flags were displayed at public demonstrations. Now, that can get an activist arrested. But Izmir still has cafés where queer people can get together. Another activist, Yigit, is here to meet his colleague, Efsan. The café has slogans and rainbow flags on display quite openly. I face a lot of, I mean I witness a lot of discrimination which is faced by other queer people due to my job. A huge part of my life is just defending LGBTIA people. I think the queer is the right word to express myself in this case. I’m coming from the north of Turkey. Why I came here? Because it’s like there are more people who are looking at the bigger perspective. And it’s far away from my home. They don’t know who I am exactly. I don’t rather to talk to them about this kind of things. I’m living another life in their eyes. The café is also a boutique store, and a safe haven. The street here is… … so phobic. Most of the time, during the night, during the day, especially for trans people. Yes, trans people are living in these streets and there´s always cops here to oppress them. It’s like you know disturbing. It’s not all the time official, it doesn’t have an official reflection, they don‘t use like documents and stuff, they just like oppress people, they mischarge trans people. They are just looking at you, at the people at the café or trans people in their work. But if anything bad happens, they are not there. As a lesbian couple, Pembe and Nuray have already broken out of the traditional women’s roles. But the fact that they’re not married only makes the nasty looks even nastier. It is hard to live as a woman alone. You have to be vigilant, because there’s this notion that you can’t live alone or have men who are just friends. That won’t last long – or if a friend visits you at home – the neighbors might notice. Then, you get labelled a tramp very, very quickly. Often, when the question comes up: do you live with your family? With your children, for example, it’s just to set me apart. It’s not even about the lesbian thing. They’re not interested in that. They just see lesbians as perverse. You can ruin your reputation in Turkey really fast – if you just like to party or like to go out. Pembe’s celebrating her birthday. Why does she stay in Turkey, amid the ostracism and discrimination? Well, of course, Izmir is a bit different. You can hear the call to prayer and still listen to music at the same time and have a drop of fizz on your birthday. On social media and TV, gay people are shown in a negative light. I meet lots of gay people in my restaurant and my circle of friends, as well, and I’ve never had any negative experiences. But what my gay friends experience on their own is something else. The fact that it’s prohibited is yet more proof of the kind of regime we’re living under. For now, I want to live here. I enjoy life here – it’s good for me. The society in Izmir on the Aegean really is wonderful – it’s good. Unlike other cities in Turkey, this one is much more open. I can only hope that it keeps getting better and even more open and attitudes change. Time will tell – even if it doesn’t look all that great right now with our current "commander-in-chief. "

Today, Pembe Özkan lives in Turkey. Before that she’d lived almost her entire life in Germany, where she came out and married a woman.

After divorcing her wife, Pembe returned to her home country. Now, she lives in İzmir, known as the most liberal-minded city in Turkey. That has made it something of a magnet for gay men and women, trans people and anyone else who wishes to pursue a lifestyle different from the one Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan envisions for Turkey’s people. We meet up with Pembe, who now has to brave the repressive atmosphere in Turkey. A report by Almut Röhrl.

00:00 Intro
00:56 Back in Turkey
03:27 Clandestine Queer Scene
06:48 Open Queer Meeting Place
09:21 Traditional Women’s Role in Turkey
10:48 Queer Birthday Party

#documentary #dwdocumentary #reporter
______

DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch top documentaries from German broadcasters and international production companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding of current affairs and global events. Subscribe and explore the world around you with DW Documentary.

Subscribe to:
⮞ DW Documentary (English): https://www.youtube.com/dwdocumentary
⮞ DW Documental (Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/dwdocumental
⮞ DW Documentary وثائقية دي دبليو (Arabic): https://www.youtube.com/dwdocarabia
⮞ DW Doku (German): https://www.youtube.com/dwdoku
⮞ DW Documentary हिन्दी (Hindi): https://www.youtube.com/dwdochindi

For more visit: http://www.dw.com/en/tv/docfilm/s-3610
Follow DW Documentary on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dwdocumentary/
Follow DW Documental on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dwdocumental

We kindly ask viewers to read and stick to the DW netiquette policy on our channel: https://p.dw.com/p/MF1G