ECtHR to announce verdict on Turkish gender reassignment law

The ECtHR will announce its final verdict in relation to the Y.Y. v Turkey case regarding the Article 40 of the Turkish Civil Code on gender reassignment.

The Article 40 of the Turkish Civil Code stipulates that a court permission must be obtained in order to undergo gender reassignment surgery. According to the article, the permission can only be given if the person is over 18 and unmarried, and has the official medical board reports to prove that the operation is psychologically needed and that the ability to reproduce is permanently lost.

The applicant who wants to be registered as male and get the permission for gender reassignment surgery applied to a Court of First Instance in 2005. The next year, he got two different psychiatric expert reports in February and April, stating that he has to continue his life as a man. However, following a report in May stating that the person still has the ability to reproduce, the court ruled that the applicant does not fulfill the requirements of the Article 40.

How is possible then to fulfill the article without even getting the permission for the surgery to lose the ability to reproduce?

The Court of Appeals stated in a May 2007 verdict that the decision by the Court of First Instance does not have a mistake. It also rejected the applicant’s request for a correction in the ruling in October 2007.

The applicant took the case to the ECtHR in 2008, complaining about the content and the interpretation of the law. In the proceeding which started 2 years after, he underlined that the relevant requirement of the law can only be fulfilled by a surgery, leaving himself in an inconclusive situation.

Although it was proven by the medical reports that the applicant identifies as a man and his physiology does not fit his gender identity, it was not enough for the court. The applicant claims that his right to privacy, designated in the Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, is violated.