Turkey's LGBT community leaving former safe haven amid crackdown

LGBT people are leaving Turkey in the wake of an "anti-gay" campaign led by the country's president, rights groups say.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out against “the LGBT youth” earlier this month, as protests at the country’s top university threatened to undermine his government's authority.

“The LGBT, there is no such thing,” Mr Erdogan said, while his interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, called the student activists “LGBT perverts”.

Ten years ago, Turkey was seen as a safe country for LGBT people persecuted in much of the Middle East, and in 2014 it held the largest Pride march in the region. But the parade was later banned and in recent years police have used tear gas against people who try to mark the occasion.

Now those who feel the heat of the government's new crackdown are opting to leave.

“The vilification just became too much, I couldn’t take so much hatred. Leaving was so painful, but I saw no other way,” said one woman who left Turkey for London and spoke to The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.

“I am always scared to be myself in Turkey, but now it is so much worse. I will never tell my family who I am.”

Homophobia is common in Turkish society, and the government's increasingly hardline stance is fuelling fears among LGBT people.

While there are no official figures, Turkey has slid down the LGBT rights index published by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

Last year, it was ranked 48th out of the 49 countries ILGA lists in its Eurasia region.

Protests broke out at Bogazici University at the start of the month following the appointment of an Erdogan-loyalist as its rector. The protests saw more than 300 students detained in Istanbul and Ankara.

Amid the unrest, the government focused its attention on a student artwork depicting a rainbow flag at the Islamic holy site of Mecca.

Mr Soylu celebrated the arrest of four students who hung the poster, referring to the group as “freaks” and "degenerates".

Mr Erdogan later called the protesters “terrorists”, adding that they were not welcome in the country.

“The LGBTI students feel threatened, they’re afraid to leave their homes now, not even to come to the university,” said Dr Zeynep Gambetti, a Political Science Professor at Bogazici University.

Dr Gambetti claimed Mr Erdogan was trying to divert attention from other domestic problems, including rising food and energy prices.

“Scapegoating the LGBT community was simply convenient at that moment,” agreed Dr Aykan Erdemir, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Turkey Program.

Dr Erdemir said: “The new attention, largely undesirable for an already discriminated community, is increasing hate crimes against LGBT people.

“We will see waves of them (minorities) seeking safety abroad, and we have already seen this exodus.”

It comes as many young Turks are already choosing to leave the country in light of Turkey's increasingly conservative policies.

Istanbul’s population is believed to have decreased last year for the first time, while polls show that over 62 per cent of young Turks would rather live abroad.

Some want to leave, but are unable to. “I dream of leaving, anywhere I would be accepted. The accusations and lies twists my stomach in knots," Nadir, 18, from Ankara, told The Telegraph.

"I don’t want to have to fight for my rights.”