Besiktas Municipality

LGBTI Municipal Member Sedef Çakmak on Hate Speech in the Media

Beşiktaş Municipal Assembly member from CHP and human rights and LGBT activist Sedef Çakmak has evaluated hate speech in media for us. During the municipality elections, Çakmak became a target of hate speech in various media outlets as an openly gay woman. We’ve discussed the difficulties she has faced during the electoral process and in her personal life.


Lesbian Municipal Assembly Member Sedef Çakmak and Mayor Murat Hazinedar on LGBTI Rights and Politics

Sedef Çakmak (33) is the first municipal assembly member in Turkey who has disclosed her lesbian identity. She graduated from Galatasaray University, Faculty of Sociology. She worked at Lambda Istanbul (LGBTI Solidarity Association) and she took part in the establishment of SPoD (Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association). Following the local elections in 2014, she started to act as consultant for the Mayor of Beşiktaş, Murat Hazinedar, and last Monday she was elected as a municipal assembly member. We discussed her battle for LGBTI individuals’ rights in Turkish politics with Sedef Çakmak and Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) LGBTI expansion with Murat Hazinedar.

Source: Elvan Yarma, “Türkiye’de LGBTİ hakları değil, kadın hakları geriliyor” (“It is the women’s rights that regress in Turkey, not LGBTI rights”), Hurriyet, 10 March 2015,

When did you realise that you are lesbian?

Coming out to myself happened when I joined Lambda Istanbul in 2004. I was studying sociology and I joined in with a sociological curiosity concerning gay and trans individuals’ way of living. Then, I started thinking about this and I discovered myself.

Could you tell your family when you realised it?

Of course not! But, I told my family that I had been in an association defending gay and trans individuals’ rights since 2004. At first they had a hard time accepting it. Following the moment a member of the parliament from CHP mentioned LGBTI rights, my mother had an enlightening experience. Since then, she has openly supported me.


What kind of difficulties have you experienced as a lesbian? More precisely, have you experienced any difficulties?

I could not find a job for 6 years. It was stated in my CV that I worked at Lambda Istanbul. They said “Oh, well, we will call you at a later time”. One day, I revised and censored my CV. They reverted back instantly by saying “You are the exact person that we are looking for”. When I told them in the interview that I was lesbian, again the same response: “We will call you”.

Given that a politician does not feel the necessity to say “I am heterosexual” when he/she enters politics, why do you feel the need to disclose that you are lesbian?

Just as politicians state their Alevi, female or other oppressed identities, it is the same for being an LGBTI individual. However, as there are people who hide their gender identities in politics, we do not consider it strange when a politician says that they are Alevi but we are baffled when they say they are gay.

Will we be able to see others disclose that they are LGBTI individuals in other municipalities in Turkey?

There are already others. We have friends who are candidates for nomination for parliament. We have a friend, Boysan [Yakar], who is openly gay and works as an advisor to the mayor of the Şişli Municipality.


Mayor Hazinedar: Message to the victims of hate crimes on the occasion of the 20 November Trans Day of Remembrance

Source: Av. Murat Hazinedar, “Nefrete Inat, Yaşasın Hayat!”, (“In Spite of Hate, Yes to Life!”), 20 November 2014,

“Discrimination”, “hate speech”, “hate crimes”, “honor killings of homosexuals/transexuals”… How truly aware are we of these phrases that we have heard for a long time now? How seriously do we take these chilling images that we encounter every day in newspapers and TV news bulletins? Are we prepared to answer these questions with a clear conscience? Unfortunately, no! We must confront a painful truth. Official figures state that 36 trans individuals have been murdered over the past ten years. Experts, however, contend that without “transphobia” being delineated amongst other hate crimes, the real figures are likely to be several times higher.