(Istanbul, October 29, 2025) - A government proposal would pave the way to bring criminal charges against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Türkiye, one of the most alarming rollbacks of rights in decades, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposal should be immediately withdrawn.
A draft of the omnibus reform law, referred to as the 11th Judicial Package, was leaked to the media, revealing plans to amend the Turkish penal code and civil code with new articles that threaten the rights of LGBT people. One would criminalize behavior deemed "contrary to biological sex and general morality," including its so-called "promotion." Another would sharply restrict access to gender-affirming health care, raising the minimum age to 25 and imposing onerous eligibility conditions. A third would allow for criminal charges against both transgender people and medical professionals who provide care outside these new limits.
"Bringing criminal charges against people for their gender identity or sexual orientation is a profound violation of human dignity and amounts to state-sanctioned oppression," said Hugh Willamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Turkish government should drop plans to introduce these amendments, which blatantly violate international law and would leave LGBT people in constant fear of arrest and prosecution."
The draft omnibus law, which also includes criminal justice changes, such as longer prison sentences for children and removal of online content allegedly violating privacy, has emerged in Türkiye's increasingly conservative and authoritarian political climate. The justification for the proposed anti-LGBT amendments is based on vague claims to protect "the family" and "public morals," a framing the Erdoğan government has repeatedly employed in recent years to legitimize stigmatizing and excluding LGBT people and to undercut women's protection and rights.
One amendment to article 225 of the penal code (on "indecent acts"), which uses vague and broad language, provides that anyone who "engages in attitudes or behaviors contrary to biological sex and general morality, or who openly encourages, praises, or promotes such attitudes or behaviors" would face up to three years in prison.
The amendment would also potentially allow criminal charges against civil society organizations supporting sexual and gender minorities and promoting their rights, and against media outlets and journalists for reporting on issues relating to gender identity and sexual orientation.
This amendment also would allow for criminal charges for anyone who takes part in a same-sex engagement or marriage ceremony with penalties of up to four years in prison. Turkish law does not currently allow for same-sex marriage, so any such ceremonies are, by definition, symbolic and private.
Another amendment would change article 40 of the civil code on "Changing Sex," raising the minimum age for gender-affirming health care including surgery from 18 to 25, mandating permanent infertility for such procedures, and requiring multiple evaluations from government-approved hospitals. Imposing arbitrary age cutoffs for health care and forcing trans people to sacrifice their reproductive capacity are grave violations of their bodily autonomy, health, and equality before the law.
The leaked draft also includes penal code amendments to punish healthcare professionals who perform gender-affirming medical intervention in violation of the proposals with fines and up to seven years in prison. Transgender people receiving medically necessary care deemed illegal under the amendments could be punished with up to three years in prison. By allowing criminal charges against both potential medical providers and patients, the law would force treatment into dangerous and unregulated underground settings, heightening the risks of exploitation, medical complications, and irreversible harm, Human Rights Watch said.
The proposed prison sentences would also make it possible for courts to place people in pretrial detention pending an investigation.
Fifteen LGBT groups in Türkiye have expressed strong concerns about the threat the amendments pose to their fundamental freedoms, right to equality before the law, and participation in a democratic society. In a statement, the Turkish Medical Association emphasized that granting LGBT people access to necessary healthcare services should never be criminalized and highlighted that the proposal violates human rights.
Under international human rights law governments have obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of LGBT people and cannot invoke simple moral disapproval as justification to deny their rights, or resort to discrimination against them, far less criminal charges. Any restrictions on rights must have a legitimate purpose and be established in law, in a manner that is precise, accessible, and foreseeable, so that individuals can both conform with the law and know the precise conduct that will bring them in conflict with the law.
The measures to achieve the purported purpose of the restrictions, such as to protect "public morals" or "the family," must be established as necessary, proportionate, and nondiscriminatory. Türkiye is a party to a several treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which require these fundamental legal standards.
The European Court of Human Rights, whose judgments are binding on Türkiye, has already made clear in the leading judgment of Bayev and others v Russia that the kind of legislative proposals in the leaked draft law are entirely incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. In recalling its precedent of refusing to uphold "policies and decisions which embody a predisposed bias" on the part of a sexual majority against a sexual minority, the court stated that these types of laws concern both facets of the very existence and identity of individuals and the essence of the right to freedom of expression, and cannot be justified as necessary to protect morals, the family, or children.
The right to freedom of expression as protected under international law includes the right to seek and receive information and ideas of all kinds including "information on subjects dealing with sexual orientation and gender identity."
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights protects the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and obligates governments to ensure the right to health without discrimination, including on the basis of one's sexual orientation and gender identity.
"The European Union and Council of Europe and their member states should use all diplomatic and political channels to ensure this regressive draft law, which would put LGBT people in Türkiye in grave danger, is abandoned." Williamson said. "This is a defining test of Türkiye's respect for rule of law and fundamental democratic principles on rights and equality."
