North Cyprus court issues first conviction for anti-LGBT hate crime
Turkish North Cyprus was the last European territory to decriminalize homosexuality in 2014
A court in the breakaway Turkish Republic of North Cyprus last month recorded the territory’s first-ever conviction for a sexual-orientation-motivated hate crime.
The Mediterranean territory, which declared independence from the Republic of Cyprus in 1983 but has not been recognized by any state other than Turkiye, had been the last place in Europe with a law against homosexuality when it repealed a law that criminalized male-male sexual relations in 2014.
The repeal bill also included a ban on anti-LGBT discrimination and hate crimes.
Before the repeal, 83 nations had laws against homosexual behavior. Now there are 66.
Same-sex couples in North Cyprus remain without legal recognition or adoption rights. Gay men are discharged from the Turkish Cypriot security forces if they are outed.
Cyprus Inform, a local news outlet, published the following report on the story, which we have lightly edited below:
Turkish Cypriot court issues first conviction for homophobic hate crime
Bugun Kibris reported that Sunmez assaulted and threatened Tas at her apartment in Trikomo in September 2023. Numan was also there, and Sunmez directed homophobic insults at her during the incident.
According to Ozgur Gazete’s coverage of the sentencing on September 24, Sunmez and Tas had divorced five months before the attack. The newspaper reported that he went to her home, assaulted her and threatened to kill her.
Tas subsequently brought a case, reporting the physical assault and obtaining a medical report that documented it.
Bugun Kibris reported on Wednesday that the sentence comprised five months for the assault against Tas and a further month for the hate crime against Numan.
The district court ruled that the homophobic remarks aimed at Numan amounted to an offence distinct from the insults and threats against Tas. It noted that the remarks could also be heard beyond the flat.
The court explained that classifying an offence as a hate crime required more than a general intention to commit an offence: the perpetrator must have a specific motive rooted in prejudice or hatred concerning someone’s sexual orientation.
In Sunmez’s case, the court found that his language demonstrated an intention beyond exchanging insults during an argument. It said he sought to marginalise and humiliate Numan publicly and expose her to hostility because of her constitutionally protected freedom concerning sexual orientation.
