Buse Kilickaya

On 25 October 2011, human rights defenders Buse Kilickaya, Selay Tunc and Naz Gudumen were found guilty of the charges of “resisting public officials and preventing them from performing their duty” and “insults”.

Further Information

The charges were brought following their arbitrary arrest on 19 June 2010. Buse Kilickaya is the chairperson and founder of Pembe Hayat LGBTT Dayanisma Dernegi (Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association); Selay Tunc is a founding member and vice chairperson of the same organisation; Naz Gudumen is an active member. All three are well known defenders of transgender rights in Turkey. Pembe Hayat is a Turkish non-governmental organisation which advocates to end discrimination and violence against LGBTI people.

On 25 October 2011, the final hearing of the case against Buse Kilickaya, Selay Tunc and Naz Gudumen took place in the Ankara 15th Court of First Instance.

Buse Kilickaya was convicted of “resisting public officials and preventing them from performing their duty” and was sentenced to five months in prison. Selay Tunc was convicted of the same charge and received a suspended six-month prison sentence. Naz Gudumen was convicted of “resisting public officials and preventing them from performing their duty” and “insults” and received a suspended 18-month prison sentence.

The aforementioned human rights defenders were arrested on 19 June 2010, at approximately 10 pm, when the car they were travelling in was stopped by police on Baglar Street, Ankara. The police demanded that they get out of the car as they were to be taken to the police station. The officers however failed to provide any legal reason for their arrest.

Upon the insistence of the human rights defenders that the police officers were not acting according to the law, the officials began to verbally abuse them, stating that they would not permit “transvestism”. As there is no reference in Turkish law to “transvestism”, the human rights defenders objected to the arbitrary interference with their freedom of movement but were forcibly removed from the car, manhandled and brought to the police station.

Upon arrival at the police station, Buse Kilickaya, Selay Tunc and Naz Gudumen filed a complaint against the police officers in relation to what had just occurred. However, the complaint was not investigated by the office of the prosecutor, which instead proceed to charge the three human rights defenders.

This is not the first time that Pembe Hayat and transgender human rights defenders have been targeted. In March 2011, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority – Telecommunication Communication Presidency (TIB) ordered to the hosting company of Pembe Hayat's official website that the website be removed in accordance with Law No 5361 on “Regulation of Internet Broadcasting and Fighting Against Crimes Committed in these Broadcasts”; TIB later gave verbal assurances that the cancellation order would not be pursued.

More gravely, a month before the arrest of the aforementioned human rights defenders, in May 2010, five active members of Pembe Hayat, including Buse Kilickaya and Selay Tunc, were assaulted and detained by Ankara police. They were charged with “resisting public officials and preventing them from performing their duty” but the court later dismissed the charges for lack of evidence and condemned the actions of the police officers as "totally wrong".

Front Line believes that the arbitrary arrest and sentencing of Buse Kilickaya, Selay Tunc and Naz Gudumen are directly related to their legitimate human rights work in defence of LGBTI people, and expresses its concern at the frequent targeting of transgender human rights defenders.