Intertwined Movements, Interwoven Histories: HIV & AIDS in Turkey

Working Paper
Intertwined
Movements,
Interwoven Histories:
HIV & AIDS in Turkey
Zülfukar Çetin
Intertwined Movements, Interwoven Histories: HIV and AIDS in Turkey 2
The “Disentangling European HIV/AIDS Policies: Activism,

Citizenship and Health” (EUROPACH) research team is made up
of scholars based at four European universities – Humboldt
University in Berlin (Institute for European Ethnology),
Goldsmiths, University of London (Department of Sociology),
University of Basel (Department of History) and Jagiellonian
University (Institute of Sociology) – and works with another
researcher who is based at a fifth academic institution, the Free
University of Berlin. It also works in close collaboration with a
number of non-academic partner organizations including AIDS
Action EUROPE, European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG),
Hydra (Germany), İnsan Kaynağını Geliştirme Vakfı (İKGV)
(Turkey), Kaos GL (Turkey), the International Committee on the
Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE), National AIDS Trust
(UK), SIEĆ PLUS (Poland), the ACT UP Oral History Project, the
European Network of People Who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD),
Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe (Germany), Justri (UK), Pembe Hayat
LGBTT Dayanışma Derneği (Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity
Association) (Turkey), Social ADIS Committee (Poland), and the
Social Policy Foundation “Prekursor” (Poland).
Funding for the research that was used to produce this text was
generously provided by the Humanities in the European Research
Area as part of their the 3rd Joint Research Programme under the
rubric “Uses of the Past.”
We suggest the following citation for this text:
Çetin, Zülfukar (2017): Intertwined Movements, Interwoven

Histories: HIV and AIDS in Turkey. Disentangling European
HIV/AIDS Policies: Activism, Citizenship and Health
(EUROPACH) Working Paper No. 17-001/2. Available at:
europach.phils.uj.edu.pl/project-outcomes/library/workingpapers/
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
HIV and AIDS in Turkey ........................................................................................................... 4
The Health System in Turkey..................................................................................................... 5
Access to Health Care for People with HIV ............................................................................ 11
The dynamics of the history and politics of HIV and AIDS in Turkey ................................... 12
The first phase and the case of Murtaza E.: 1985-1992 ........................................................ 12
The second phase: institutionalization and self-organization: 1992-2002 ............................ 16
HIV and AIDS interventions at the non-governmental level ............................................ 16
HIV and AIDS interventions at the state level .................................................................. 21
The third phase: The AKP’s New Turkey and the new public health policy: 2002-2015 .... 23
Self-organizations for and by HIV-positive people ........................................................... 23
The phase of Positive Living ............................................................................................. 25
HIV/AIDS NGO platform ................................................................................................. 26
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Program for Turkey .................................................. 27
Excurse: HIV and AIDS and international collaboration......................................................... 29
World Health Organisation (WHO) ...................................................................................... 29
UNFPA–United Nations Population Fund............................................................................ 29
UNDP (The United Nations Development Program) and UNAIDS .................................... 30
UNAIDS: A joint response to HIV/AIDS ............................................................................ 30
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 31
Looking forward ....................................................................................................................... 33
Reference List .......................................................................................................................... 38
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HIV AND AIDS 1 I N T U R K E Y
HIV and AIDS did not become a mainstream discourse in the health policy field in Turkey
until the early 2000s. Rather, like syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, or genital herpes, HIV and
AIDS would be listed under the umbrella term "sexually transmitted infections" without
receiving any particular attention by state health policy. For this, several social and health
policy reasons can be mentioned:
First: In contrast to some major countries in the West, registered cases of HIV and AIDS in
Turkey were comparatively less widespread (Tümer, 2016). Due to the low or unknown
numbers of HIV and AIDS cases, the topic was either ignored or the country was considered
unaffected by AIDS and HIV infection. For example, between 1985 and 2000 there were
about 200 people registered with HIV (ibid.).
Second: The political situation in Turkey was/is characterized by the existence of different
political and social movements, and has been since the founding of the Turkish Republic. At
the beginning of the 1980s, for instance, Turkey was dealing with a successful military coup
and responding to the new social movements that arose in reaction to it. The queer movement,
the women’s movements, and the Kurdish movement are just a few of the many (new) social
movements that arose after the 1980 coup.
Third: Even if society and state in Turkey were dealing with other political issues in the 1980s
and 1990s, there were a few groups of trans* persons, sex workers, pacifists, and socially-
conscious medical workers who were already aware of HIV and AIDS and tried to raise the
issue, but due to the repressive political situation after the military coup could not build any
strong lobby for people with HIV and AIDS.
This article focuses on the different phases of HIV and AIDS history in Turkey and shows the
interwovenness of different social movements that can be described as resistant and
emancipatory responses to the continuity of a generally repressive policy after the military
coup. For instance, trans people defended themselves collectively because police action
directly threatened their livelihoods and put them at risk of losing their jobs and homes.
Protests that emerged in response to this situation led to the organizing of trans, lesbian and
gay people, who sought out support from feminist and left-wing groups as well as human

1
In contrast to the transnationally and locally prevalent term "HIV / AIDS", I will not mention HIV
and AIDS together with a slash, but with the conjunction "and" separately from each other. In my
opinion, the spelling "HIV / AIDS" often leads to misleading mental homogenization of HIV and
AIDS as if the two phenomena were synonymous with a particular type of "fatal" disease.
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rights organizations. They assembled in public space, organized demonstrations against the
police, staged protests outside the employment office to demand jobs for trans people and
collected signatures for a petition calling for the legalization of sex reassignment surgeries
(Çetin, 2015).
Furthermore, in 1987 police raids led to a collective protest, which was supported by the
“Radikal Demokratik Yeşil Parti, RDYP (Radical Democratic Green Party)” and carried out
mainly by trans sex workers and some lesbians and gay men. On April 29, 1987, 37 trans,
lesbian and gay people launched a hunger strike in Gezi Park to protest against the repression.
Neighbouring citizens as well as a number of artists and intellectuals lent their support to the
protesters. This ten-day hunger strike is viewed as a watershed event by today’s queer
movement (ibid.).
The history of the HIV and AIDS movement is presented here against the backdrop of the
political situation in Turkey since 1980 and is therefore periodised by turning points in
domestic politics as well as related to the histories of other new social movements. This type
of HIV and AIDS history aims to understand AIDS policy and the AIDS movement as parts
of a series of new social movements in the wake of the 1980 military coup and to reconstruct
their dynamics along political events.
THE HEALTH SYSTEM IN TURKEY

In order to be able to understand the current health policy in general and in particular how it
deals with HIV and AIDS in Turkey, a historical review of the country’ s health system is
necessary.
The foundation of the Turkish Republic was aimed firstly at the dissolution of the Ottoman
multi-ethnic state, and secondly at the formation of a nation-state following the European
model, which sought to establish a rigid concept of nation. According to this European model,
a nation was based on a common language, common culture, shared history, common
religion, common soil and, in the most extreme case (like in Nazi Germany), common blood.
In the founding years of the republic, neither the traditions and customs of the “new nation”,
which should be defined as Sunni Muslim and Turkish, should be neglected, nor should the
modernization of the economy and other social structures be missed. Thus, large and
important parts of the country’s legal, economic, political and socio-cultural institutions were
either renewed or wholly adapted following the standards of different European countries.
Since at the time Europe had no homogeneous state and social structures either, the founders
of Turkey adopted different laws from different European countries, which were to be applied
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in the new republic. For example, the Italian penal code and the Swiss civil code were
adopted, with some changes, into the then Turkish society. These two legislative examples
show that Turkey in its founding period did not import everything from a homogeneous
Europe, but also made sure that the new Turkish nation should remain as original as possible,
without, however, having to be categorized as in contradiction to an “enlightened” Europe.
On the contrary, since its founding in 1923, the Turkish Republic has claimed recognition as a
Western or European country worldwide. The newly founded Republic and its institutions
were absorbed with the overriding goal of Europeanizing society, with the goal of establishing
a “modern”, secular, Turkish national society with an ideological basis not in religion, but in
Enlightenment ideals. The guidelines were the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, namely
populism, nationalism, secularism, statism, revolutionarity, and republicanism.
In the new society, the nuclear family was to play a central role. The emancipation of women
and their participation in economics, science, technology, and other areas of society were both
required and supported. The Republic thus placed great value on a gender politics that was
supposed to lead to equality between men and women. For example, women had the right to
vote and to run for office by 1934. The progressive nature of this politics becomes clear if we
keep in mind that such reforms were still quite unimaginable in many European societies in
the 1930s. Then as well as in former times, homosexual acts among adults were legal in
Turkey. This may have been due either to the adopted Italian penal code or to the earlier
Ottoman-era laws that were still in force and did not impose a penalty for homosexual acts.
Deviations from the heterosexual binary gender system took a back seat to the ambitious new
gender politics and were largely ignored. Therefore, in contrast to many other European
countries at the time, the Republic of Turkey simply ignored lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
trans*persons altogether until the 1960s (ibid.).
The Europeanization of Turkey is also an important basis for dealing with the history of
health policy in general and with the development of HIV and AIDS policies in particular.
When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, all areas of society were reformed,
including education, justice, labour, civilian life, etc. Health care was also one of the areas to
be newly configured. The Ministry for Health and Public Welfare (Sağlık Sosyal ve
Yardımlaşma Bakanlığı) was founded in Turkey at the time. At a European level this was a
relatively major step, since at the time such a ministry only existed in very few European
countries (Akın & Ersoy, 2012). The new ministry, however, was responsible above all for
treating those wounded in war and for developing new legislature. Regulating general health
services and public health were not yet provided for when the ministry was founded (Türkiye
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Cumhuriyeti Sağlık Bakanlığı, 2015). In 1930, the first Public Health Law (Umumi
Hıfzıssıhha Kanunu) was passed in Turkey (Akın & Ersoy, 2012). This first law, which is still
in force today, regulates the tasks, duties, and scope of the state in the area of public health. In
the first years of the republic, due to the losses incurred in several wars, the state was
following a pro-natalist population policy, that is, a policy of encouraging population growth
(ibid.). Since 1965 Turkey has been following an anti-natalist population policy in order better
to control population growth and public health (ibid.). As part of this new population policy
the state has targeted a horizontal health policy, which is to say that the state aimed at
establishing health services not only in urban but also in rural areas as well as guaranteeing
access to health for all groups of the population regardless of their economic status, place of
residence, or other characteristics. Protective and preventive measures have formed the main
pillars of the new health politics. In order to improve health services in rural regions and the
general health of the population, the “The Socialization of Health Services” (Sosyal Hizmetler
Kanunu) was passed in 1961 (Kurt & Şaşmaz, 2012). With the then new constitution, which
became effective in 1961 by a referendum after the first military coup in Turkey, the “social
state” was redefined and its duties towards the citizens were determined. Accordingly, the
Social State is obliged to accept its responsibility for the citizens, to recognize their right to
public health as a fundamental one, and to make public health services available to the public.
The new constitution and the law about “The Socialization of Health Services” (also from
1961) aimed at stabilizing the health of the population, developing a social and economic
public health system, promoting protective health services and decentralizing health care
services by establishing a nationwide system of family doctors. The further intention of the
law “The Socialization of Health Services” was equal rights and equal access to health
services. The main guiding principles of this law were (ibid.):
• Welfarism: Health services are among the main tasks of the state and are offered
according to the principle of “well-being of the population.”
• Equal treatment: Every person can use the health services on equal terms.
• Continuity: Health services are organized in the individuals’ vicinity, no matter where
they live, are available for them whenever necessary and can always be accessed
without barriers.
• Incremental treatment model (triage): Any individual wishing to use healthcare
services must first turn to the cottage hospitals (sağlık ocakları) or local dispensaries
(sağlıkevi), except in emergencies. Depending on the severity of the complaints, they
will be referred to larger health facilities.
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• Integrative services (protection and treatment): Cottage hospitals and local

dispensaries2 offer all kinds of medical protective treatments within their capacities.
The aim is to offer patients from sparsely populated places comprehensive treatment
(horizontal approach).
• Participatory treatment services: In all cottage hospitals, local dispensaries, health
centres and hospitals as well as in all other health facilities in the cities, health
advisory councils are set up to ensure good relations with the population. Free
services: The examination and treatment of patients as well as the receipt of medicines
are provided free of charge, if they correspond to referral guidelines.
• Treatment services appropriate to the population: In each of the regions with 5-10
thousand inhabitants, a cottage hospital (sağlık ocakları) will be set up. Each of these
health facilities is autonomous to act independently of regional guidelines on
healthcare services.
In spite of the good intentions of the two laws, equal access to health services could not be
realized nor could the protective health services be further developed as had been provided for
by the laws. The inequality of development between the country’s eastern and western parts
as well as between rural and urban areas remained unchanged. The mortality rates among
mothers and children could barely be reduced, nor could the casualties due to (sexually)
transmissible diseases (ibid.). Turkey’s health policy deteriorated especially after the 1980
military coup, which also negatively affected the entire political climate in Turkey, which I
will discuss in more detail below. The constitution of 1961 was changed again after the putsch
in 1980 and a new constitution entered into force in 1982. The principle of the Social State
was abolished informally and a new politically repressive regime was enforced in almost all
sectors of society. At the same time, the urge to adapt to the global liberalization of the
economy and other areas also prevailed in Turkey. In the course of these developments, an
attempt was made to reform or, rather, to liberalize (that is, to privatize) general health
services. The “Socialization of Health Services” program was effectively terminated,
inequality in health care services became stronger, public health subsidies were shortened,
hospitals were privatized and the gaps between rich and poor, and urban and rural, grew. “The

2
Depending on the size and density of the population, different polyclinics have been set up in each
region: sağlık ocakları (cottage hospitals), sağlık evleri (local dispanseries), sağlık merkezleri (health
centers), hastane (hospital) etc. In each residential area and in each village primarily the cottage
hospitals (the smallest health center) were set up, where people could be treated for their health
problems. Depending on the degree of the complaints, the patients were referred to a larger health
center or hospital. (Kurt & Şaşmaz, 2012)
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Socialization of Health Services” law, which aimed at “health for all”, failed during this time
due to a repressive policy of a military regime that also sought economic liberalization. The
new government run by the Anavatan Partisi (Motherland Party), elected in 1984, did not
abolish “The Socialization of Health Services”, but continued to fully liberalize the health
system, obliging the health care institutions to finance themselves. These attempts at
liberalization were continued in the following years by different governments, but they failed
to achieve success in improving the health system. After Turkey was officially recognized as
a candidate for the European Union at the EU Summit in Helsinki in 1999, international
expectations rose with regard to reforms aimed at improving due process and the conditions
for minorities and for civil society in general. Ankara reacted by passing a series of so-called
“harmonization packages” between 2002 and 2003. The proposed legal and constitutional
changes included above all those concerning freedom of thought and expression, the
prevention of torture, the freedom and security of the individual, the right to privacy, the
inviolability of the home, the freedom of communication, the freedom of residence and
movement, and the freedom of association and gender equality. At the level of civil society,
changes were to be instituted in the areas of gender equality, protection of children and the
infirm, as well as freedom of assembly (Çetin, 2016). With the accession to power of the
Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi - AKP) in 2002, the health system
and policies were also subjected to this ongoing reform process. In the course of the EU-
Accession negotiations and through the support of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and
the World Bank as well as other international organizations such as World Health
Organisation (WHO), the government initiated the campaign “Health for All” (Herkese
Sağlık) as part of an Emergency Action Plan (Acil Eylem Planı). With this plan, the
government declared the priority objectives of the new health policy and launched the “Health
Conversion Program” (Sağlıkta Dönüşüm Programı - SDP) in the following year. The
objectives of this program were, for example, facilitating access to health; quality assurance
of the health system; the development of a health service friendly to patients and centred
around their needs; performance-oriented, productive, affordable and competitive healthcare
services and a new Ministry of Health based on the flexibility of staffing policy and a
horizontal, non-bureaucratic and non-hierarchical structure (ibid.). In light of global economic
developments since the early 1980s, it can also be noted for Turkey that the health system has
been subjected to a liberalization process by a conservative party like the AKP. Regardless of
implementation and success, this program is considered one of the most comprehensive health
reforms in Turkey. Although this new health program adopted the guiding principles of the
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old law (The Socialization of Health Services), it cannot be argued that the principle of the
Social State has been fully achieved. The dilemma between liberalization on the one hand and
the welfare state on the other might explain why. While the state aimed at “health for all” by
state support, it privatized at the same time; there were now care facilities, which offered
better quality health care services, aiming only at specific sections of the population. Neither
has the problem of access to healthcare based on the social status of people (for example,
poor/rich) been solved completely, although some attempts have been made by the
introduction of the Green Card system. In order to improve this situation, the health system,
again under the AKP government, was restructured in 2011.
As an example, in 2011 the New Public Health in Turkey was reformed by a “Decree Law”
(Kanun Hükmünde Kararname). This Decree Law defines the organization and tasks of the
Ministry of Health and the institutions subordinated to the Ministry, or those that cooperate
with it. This Decree Law also set up the Public Health Agency of Turkey (Türkiye Halk
Sağlığı Kurumu), which, according to the policies and goals of the ministry, was meant to
take over and implement basic health services. In this Decree Law the tasks and
responsibilities of the new agency were formulated. Some of the most important resolutions
with regard to the areas of responsibility and goals of the Public Health Agency of Turkey can
be summarized in general as follows:
a) Protecting and developing public health and combating risk factors for health;
b) Implementing basic health services and passing provisions to this end; and
c) Observing, analysing, and examining transmissible and non-transmissible illnesses as
well as cancer among risk groups, such as mothers, children, adolescents, the elderly,
and people with chronic conditions or disabilities.
In this context, the Ministry is also charged with monitoring and collecting data with regard to
these conditions and “risk groups,” preparing appropriate (health) plans and programs,
implementing, checking, evaluating, preventing, and making recommendations for health
policy (Türkiye Halk Sağlığı Kurumu, 2013). The Public Health Agency focuses on a
“protective health policy through the prevention, promotion, quality assurance and the
balancing out of disadvantages of marginalized and/or vulnerable groups within the
framework of the Strategic Plan 2014-2017” (ibid.). With the new office, the state aimed at a
new decentralized health policy, which was meant to work more effectively at the local and
regional level. Not only in the urban areas, but also in rural areas, several health authorities
were founded, which were subordinated to the Public Health Agency, but still had some
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autonomy with regard to prevention and protection strategies in their regions. For example,
some of the many health authorities were able to set up anonymous and free testing centres
for sex workers and LGBTI* people, which is still not available in Turkey as a whole.
ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV
According to a report from the WHO in 2009, Turkey is one of the 21 countries in the world
in which people with HIV have easier access to counselling, free testing, and treatment. Also
according to this report, until 2009 there were a total of 1,362 health institutions in Turkey
where HIV testing and counselling were offered.3
The costs of medical care for people with HIV were absorbed by the national insurance until
2012. This insurance is available to all those who either work as civil servants, are employed,
or are self-employed. The medical expenses of those not in this national insurance system and
of unemployed, low-income and poor people were covered by the Green Card (Yeşil Kart)
until October 2012, that is, by state support. The Green Card was introduced for the first time
in Turkey in 1992. The goal of the Green Card was to provide access to health and medical
treatment for socially and economically disadvantaged people who were not in any insurance
system or who could not benefit from any insurance services. The Green Card holders were
able to receive comprehensive medical care free of charge or at very low cost. The number of
Green Card holders in 1995 was 1.7 million in total. By 2010 this number has risen to over 10
million. According to statements from the Ministry of Health it had been difficult to verify the
economic situation of citizens who had applied for the Green Card. Furthermore, there are
supposed to have been a large number of Green Card users who took advantage of the system
(Deldal, 2015). For this reason, the Green Card system was abolished by the then Ministry of
Health on October 1, 2012 and replaced with the General Health Insurance (Genel Sağlık
Sigortası). With the new General Health Insurance, the state aimed to guarantee health
insurance for all citizens. The previous Green Card holders were also integrated into this
system so that they could continue to have access to comprehensive or almost unrestricted
health services and treatment. For example, unemployed, low-income or poor people with
HIV can receive both their medicines and their medical treatment through this General Health
Insurance for free. In order to use the General Health Insurance all citizens must register a
declaration and verification of their income with their local social welfare office. This made it
easier for the state to verify who had how much income and who was able to benefit (and to
what degree) from state support. The premiums could thus be graded according to levels of

3
See: Positive Living Association (without date) http://www.pozitifyasam.org/a-m-3579
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income. This new process was meant to strike a balance between those with high earnings and
the poor. The unemployed also have a right to General Health Insurance according to this
system. According to the Social Security and General Health Insurance Law (Sosyal
Sigortalar ve Genel Sağlık Sigortası Kanunu) the health insurance system encompasses not
only Turkish citizens, but also migrants and refugees who fulfil certain requirements (Ekin,
2012). So the stateless, refugees, and other migrants who have residency permits in Turkey or
who have no insurance in their countries of origin can benefit from the General Health
Insurance, as well as those who have been resident in Turkey for more than one year.4 People
with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases can also benefit from this new health system.
THE DYNAMICS OF THE HISTORY AND POLITICS OF HIV AND AIDS IN TURKEY
This section presents the history of HIV and AIDS policies in three phases. The first phase
centres mostly on the media reactions to the first known HIV and AIDS case in Turkey, that
of Murtaza E., and the state’s handling of HIV and AIDS at this early stage. The AIDS illness
of Murtaza E. became known in 1985 and is considered the beginning of the history of HIV
and AIDS in Turkey. Murtaza died in 1992. His death also received special attention in the
media and in civil society, making this event a milestone in the history of HIV and AIDS in
Turkey. The second phase, taking place between 1992 and 2002, can be considered one of
intense preoccupation at the civil, activist and state levels. This phase is characterized not
only by the establishment of new social movements but also by the institutionalization of HIV
and AIDS policies. The rise to power of the conservative AKP in 2002 marks the beginning of
a new phase not only in regard to HIV and AIDS policies. Rather, the new government
intended a significant restructuring of the country and its institutions, including the health
system as well as HIV and AIDS policies. Even though the AKP is still in power in the
moment of submitting the working paper at hand, this third phase ends in the year 2015, at the
same time marking the beginning of a new chapter in the history of HIV and AIDS policies in
Turkey. This is because in 2015 the huge increase in HIV-positive persons in Turkey
prompted the WHO to issue a warning to the country and call for new preventive measures
and action plans.
The first phase and the case of Murtaza E.: 1985-1992
Between 1985 and 1992, there were 71 registered people in Turkey with HIV and AIDS
(Hatam, 2016). The Turkish public became aware of HIV and AIDS in the fall of 1985

4
İçişleri Bakanlığı Göç İdaresi Genel Müdürlüğü. Ankara. Available at:
http://www.goc.gov.tr/files/files/SGK_KITAPCIK_tr-1.pdf [Accessed 29 Jan. 2018].
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through newspaper reports on the first known case, Murtaza E. He was known at the time for
his friendships and relationships with singers popular all over Turkey. His prominence
continued to increase due to stigmatizing reports in the nationwide dailies about his personal
encounter with AIDS as “someone infected”. Before the case of Murtaza E. AIDS was not
considered a “serious” problem in Turkey by the public, the media or the state (the Ministry
of Health). One had heard of AIDS as a deadly disease in the US and Western Europe, that is,
as something that was very far away from Turkey. Only with Murtaza E. did people start
talking about what AIDS was really all about and how it reached Turkey.
At the time the reporting in the different daily newspapers and the public reactions to this first
case were more or less homogeneous. While the newspapers labelled AIDS as a deadly
disease, Murtaza E.’s friends and acquaintances (including famous ones) abandoned him. He
was regarded as a bearer of disease, a body that brought death to the population, or someone
who was no longer to be touched. Because of this kind of reporting and public reactions, even
the Ministry of Health intervened and subjected Murtaza E. to various examinations. In this
first phase of HIV and AIDS, he tried to fight and show that he was not impacted in the ways
that people portrayed. It was known at that time in Turkey that Germany had earlier
experiences with HIV and AIDS, and it was believed that therefore treatments and prevention
strategies might have been developed there. So Murtaza E. even went to Germany to get
treatment, and returned with “HIV negative” results. He died in 1992. Because of the fear of
AIDS, his body was washed with bleach and buried in a galvanized coffin. Only a few people
attended his funeral because many were afraid of Murtaza’s “AIDS body”.
Even though the public response to this first case was marked by stigma and moral panic, it is
helpful at this point to take a look at the subsequent proceedings of state and civil society
during this first phase. Beyond the stigmatizing mass media representations of AIDS, the
Ministry of Health adopted precautionary measures against HIV and AIDS relatively early
and took the first steps in this direction. Hence, institutional prevention and control measures
are characteristic of the first phase, which will be discussed in more detail below. At that time,
HIV and AIDS were not approached forcefully, whether by civil society, science or activism.
This is due, on the one hand, to low infection rates and, on the other, to certain socio-political
conditions in Turkey, which were at that point still under the impact of the 1980 military
coup. In its aftermath, the activities of numerous associations and unions were restricted and
all political parties were banned. The leaders of the three largest parties were constrained with
a political ban. The parliament was dissolved and only convened again after the elections in
1983. The army installed a cabinet of technocrats. Freedom of assembly, association, press
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and speech were each drastically restricted. Furthermore, arbitrary arrests, mass usage of
torture and denaturalization were the order of the day. As many as 517 death sentences were
imposed and 50 of these were executed. Schools and universities were subject to massive
militarization (Çetin, 2016). When the Kurdish Workers Party (Partîya Karkerén Kurdîstan –
PKK) took up their “armed struggle for the liberation of Kurdistan” in 1984, this process was
further intensified. The attempts by then Prime Minister and later President Turgut Özal
(1983-1993) to deescalate the Kurdish conflict did little to alleviate the repression. The
military regime primarily targeted left-wing and right-wing political organizations that had led
armed struggles before the coup and that were responsible in the 1970s for numerous
politically motivated assassinations. Sustained police, legal and military repression led to
numerous activists fleeing to Europe and the USA, where they joined anti-military,
environmental and feminist movements, which provided them with insights into these new
social movements. This was also the case for many members of the queer movements. The
experiences of these temporary exiles would later become significant for the new social
movements in Turkey. The military coup largely annihilated the radical left, temporarily
debilitated the radical right, and thus unwittingly opened up public and political space for new
social movements, including the queer movement and later also the anti-AIDS movement
(ibid.).
At first, though, the military coup and its impact prevented both a movement against AIDS
and the emergence of an AIDS discourse. At that time, which was dominated by the military,
the state assumed all responsibility for public services, including health services. Thus, the
first phase of HIV and AIDS history in Turkey was characterized by the repression of all
political and social movements on the one hand and, on the other, by state intervention in all
structures of (civil) society. For instance, concerning health politics, Turkey was one of the
first countries in the world to include HIV and AIDS in the list of transmissible diseases as
early as 1985, when the first case, Murtaza E., became known. In addition to Turkey, this
obligation to report was also implemented in countries such as Germany, France, Greece,
Israel, Austria, Norway and Sweden (Başer, 1998). In order to prevent HIV and AIDS,
Turkey rapidly expanded its preventative policy in the following years, which was mainly
based on control. The following measures were to be taken against HIV and AIDS and other
transmissible infections:
• since 1986: HIV testing of all blood and blood products

• since 1987: the use of single-injection in hospitals and polyclinics
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• prevention by controlling barbers in order to avert the multiple use of razor blades for
different clients and by controlling circumcisers in order to avert possible transitions
through blood
• HIV tests for people visiting the health care facilities; due to scarce resources (lack of
staff and inadequate infrastructure) the measure was not implemented, instead patients
were committed to HIV testing in large operations and in surgical settings (Çokar et
al., 2008).
In addition to these legally prescribed preventive measures, the first HIV testing centres were
opened in 1987 and the “High Advisory Board on AIDS” (AIDS Yüksek Kurulu) was
constituted. The advisory board consisted of members of scientific institutions and
representatives of the Ministry of Health. The tasks of this advisory board consisted of
collecting information on HIV and AIDS, training the health care staff and developing further
measures against the spread of the infection (Çetin, 2016). Because of the low number of
known people with HIV on the one hand, and on the other hand because of the suppression of
civil society by the military regime, no self-organization among people living with HIV came
about at this phase. Instead, the state (the Ministry of Health) acted as the only body against
“AIDS” and determined the health policy for sexually transmittable infections. In the first
years, Turkey also turned to the experience of other countries with HIV and AIDS policies,
notably cooperating, on the international level, with the World Health Organization (WHO).
In 1987, the WHO launched the Global Program on AIDS in order to strengthen social
awareness for HIV and AIDS, develop fact-based policies, provide technical and financial
support to countries, conduct research, mobilize non-governmental organizations and promote
the rights of people with HIV (AVERT, without date). In line with the recommendations of
the WHO, the Turkish Ministry of Health prompted further steps in the fight against HIV and
AIDS in those years. In 1987, it tightened the preventive measures, prohibiting the use of
untested blood and blood products, introducing validation tests in order to detect infections
with HIV and starting to control sex workers routinely. Furthermore, single-injection was to
be used more consistently and disposed of appropriately. Condoms were only to be distributed
through health care facilities and circumcisions could only be carried out by qualified persons.
In 1988, the Turkish General Staff introduced HIV testing for those who had to join the army
due to compulsory military service (Başer, 1998).
In this phase of the history of HIV and AIDS, where the political and social movements were
largely ousted, the only non-governmental organization to address the issue of AIDS was the
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“Family Health and Planning Foundation” (TAPV), which was founded in 1985. Already in
1986, this foundation began to deal specifically with the issue of HIV and AIDS and to
collaborate with the Ministry of Health. The foundation mainly targeted students, informing
them, in their capacity as multipliers, about HIV and AIDS. TAPV is not considered a part of
a movement of socially marginalized or discriminated groups like people with HIV; the
approach of non-governmental organizations to HIV and AIDS is discussed in more detail
below.
Murtaza E. died on June 14, 1992, following his illnesses related to AIDS. His death was
reported in an alarmist manner by the nationwide dailies, which previously had made his
AIDS-related illness public, although his was not the first death due to AIDS in 1992.
The second phase: institutionalization and self-organization: 1992-2002
In the second phase of the HIV and AIDS policy in Turkey, there was still the war between
the Turkish state and the PKK going on, leading to fundamental demographic and economic
changes in Turkey: the destruction of agriculture in Kurdish areas, forced migration from
Kurdistan to western Turkey, irregular urbanization and suburbanization of the western
regions, increasing unemployment, rising inflation and the impoverishment of the entire
population were only a few consequences of the Kurdish emancipation movement and/or the
conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK, which was also, more or less, influencing or
even mobilizing other social movements in Turkey. On the other hand, this phase is
characterized by the aftermath of the political climate in the wake of the military coup. In the
1990s, human rights violations and political repression reached its peak. Nevertheless, this
phase is characterized by resistance movements, self-organization of social groups
marginalized in different ways and increased human rights activism. However, the HIV and
AIDS policy of the 1990s cannot be seen as detached from the prevailing political
atmosphere, since AIDS activism is also one of the socio-political movements that have been,
and still are, intertwined.
HIV and AIDS interventions at the non-governmental level
While the left and right movements were weakened in the wake of the military coup, the new
social movements began to develop slowly but steadily. At the same time, Turkey was at the
peak of its war with the PKK. The political agenda was therefore determined by this war and
its socio-economic consequences. However, the early 1990s were also marked by an attempt
at a new neoliberal policy by the ruling Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi - ANAP), which
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aimed at rapid urbanization and industrialization as well as the privatization of certain state
institutions and a re-internationalization of the Turkish economy. At the same time, there was
increased internal migration from the east to the west of Turkey.
During this time, the Motherland Party could neither eliminate nor reduce the influence of the
military. Political persecution, arrests, torture, murder of intellectuals and journalists,
restrictions on the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech, repression against
(especially) Kurdish politicians and others continued during the conflict with the PKK. Due to
the prevailing riots and the associated socio-economic instability, the 1990s are characterized
throughout by political instability. Even though during these years Turkey experienced a total
of seven parliamentary elections and ten changes of government with different political
demands, each newly elected government pursued the same repressive policy under the
influence of the military (Mater, 2008). This political climate, which considerably affected
civil society, was, however, an important driver for the emergence of resistance and socio-
political movements, which no longer defined themselves as left or right. Rather, they
understood themselves as human rights organizations, initiatives, and/or groups that wanted to
represent the human rights of different social groups and to implement them through activism.
The 1990s are a symbol of “civil disobedience” due to and despite this repressive policy
(ibid.). The queer movement, the women’s movement, environmental activism, political art,
the liberation struggle of the Kurds, student self-organizations, the workers’ movement,
antimilitarist associations, and struggles and resistances in other areas of social life became
more visible and effective in this decade. For example, the Human Rights Association (İnsan
Hakları Derneği), founded in 1986 (Human Rights Association Turkey, 2014), intensified its
work in the 1990s and supported all forms of social movements organizing against human
rights violations. The relation of civil society to western countries increasingly took on greater
significance. With the support of European queer organizations queer groups were able for the
first time to found lasting associations. A queer group was founded under the name Rainbow
‘92 (Gökkuşağı ‘92). The relations between Turkish and German or European queers go back
to the early 1980s. As shown above, there were also queer activists who fled to Europe and
Germany after the military coup, possibly making contact with gay and lesbian groups there.
After their return to Turkey, in 1987 some lesbians and gay men attempted to form a party
with other activists, the Radical Democratic Green Party (Radikal Demokratik Yeşil Parti,
RDYP), which was explicitly meant to campaign for the rights and issues of LGBTI people.5
The German initiative Schwule Internationale initiated a collaboration with other queer

5
For more on this see (Çetin, 2016).
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groups in Istanbul to organize a lesbian-gay parade in 1993 on the occasion of Gay Pride Day
(ibid.). In those years, the anti-AIDS movement also increasingly managed to enter into civil
society. While the fight against HIV and AIDS in the first phase was characterized by state
intervention, the first self-organizations were emerging in the early 1990s, even if these
initiatives were still not started by people with HIV, but by socially-conscious doctors,
lawyers, and intellectuals. The first organizations explicitly devoted to fighting HIV and
AIDS were founded in 1991 in Izmir AIDS ile Mücadele Derneği (Association for Combating
AIDS) and in 1992 in Istanbul AIDS Savaşım Derneği (The Association for the Battle against
AIDS). Muhtar Çokar, general secretary of IKGV (İnsan Kaynağını Geliştirme Vakfı –
Foundation for the Development of Human Resources), stated that the founders of the two
organizations were strong personalities, working closely with the Ministry of Health on the
basis of their medical professional expertise, and that they were also able to acquire state
subsidies and mobilize other institutions (Çokar, 2006a). For example, the founders,
professors Dr. Enver Tali Çetin of AIDS Savaşım Derneği (The Association for the Battle
against AIDS) and Dr. Melehat Okuyan of AIDS ile Mücadele Derneği (Association for
Combating AIDS), were at various times employed by the Ministry of Health and also served
on advisory councils of the Ministry. Through their positive relations with the Ministry, they
were able to initiate cooperation between their associations and the state (ibid.). These
associations viewed HIV and AIDS primarily from epidemiological and medical perspectives.
The social dimensions of the epidemic became of great relevance in the associations’ work
only in later years, when their active doctors would also be confronted with the experiences of
discrimination of their HIV and AIDS patients and therefore recognized a need for action in
the social sphere.
Both these organizations had several goals, such as educating society, further education of
personnel in the health system, organizing conferences and similar events, informational
events for target groups, legal support for people with HIV, guaranteeing HIV treatment and
medical care according to global standards, etc. For example, the “Association for Combating
AIDS” has been collaborating since its foundation with the Ministry of Education to train
teachers in this area. Unlike in European countries and the USA, this first organization in
Turkey was not founded by people with HIV or AIDS, nor by activists, but by doctors from
various medical areas. These areas included: pediatrics, gynaecology, public health, dentistry,
and microbiology. Over the last few years, this association has opened other locations in
Ankara and Istanbul. Both in the central office and in the group’s other locations one
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could/can take part in training workshops, anonymously and free of charge, receive
counselling, and get tested.
Another goal of this association was education and awareness training in prisons. For
instance, prisoners are informed about HIV and AIDS and are encouraged to get tested. This
association’s projects were largely funded through the Turkish Ministry of Health and
international organizations like the European Union, the WHO, the Global Fund, the World
Bank, the IMF, the UNPDF, etc.
At the same time, a large number of members of “The Association for the Battle against
AIDS” worked as medical doctors in either the medical faculties of the state universities or in
hospitals and therefore had direct contact with patients or with the first registered people with
HIV. Out of political conviction, they did not just aim at a medicalized response to HIV and
AIDS, but would also oppose the social discrimination and stigmatization of people living
with HIV. Thus, for example, they were able to persuade the Ministry of Health to provide the
first state infrastructural support – in the form of space, staff, and salary.
“The Association for the Battle against AIDS” dissolved in 2016 for financial and
infrastructural reasons (lacking staff, for instance). This association opened a total of 22
locations throughout Turkey. The association was very well connected, both nationally and
internationally, and addressed several groups regardless of HIV status. Their work included,
for instance, holding informational events for and by persons with HIV, empowerment, self-
help, education, legal and medical support, and networking people with HIV.
Other organizations, such as IKGV and TAPD (Family Planning Association in Turkey –
Türkiye Aile Planlama Derneği), which were primarily concerned with population policy,
reproductive health, the right to reproduction, and family policies, also devoted themselves to
HIV and AIDS policies and managed to cooperate with the state relatively successfully. The
reason for the “successful” cooperation with the state can be seen in the fact that these two
organizations did not directly regard themselves as representatives of marginalized groups,
which is why they were not considered in obvious opposition to the state’s health policy.
In addition, the TAPD was set up as an organization of civil society due to demographic
development in Turkey, and at that time pursued state demographic polices based on control
and regulation of population growth. In this respect, this organization also took over several
tasks of the state, especially with regard to access to the population.
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The Family Planning Association (TAPD) was from the start a member of the International
Federation for Family Planning (IPPF). TAPD had already begun to deal specifically with the
topic of HIV and AIDS in 1986. The main target group of the association was students, and
the goal was to inform and educate them about HIV and AIDS. TAPD was sponsored by
funds from the European Union between 1994 and 1997. During this period, the target groups
were extended to include parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and journalists and other people
working in the media. TAPD was able to mobilize parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and the
media landscape with its project “AIDS, intervention of top political and decision-making
bodies” and make an important contribution to the normalization of AIDS as a topic. Within
the framework of this EU-funded project, TAPD focused on the prevention of HIV and other
sexually transmittable diseases and developed national programs and strategies. While the
politicians and the government were mobilized, the media were sensitized to HIV and AIDS
and made aware of ethical standards in reporting. The education of society was also one of the
core objectives of TAPD. To achieve these goals, the TPAD focused on intersectorality, i.e.
on cooperation between several sectors such as health, education, the media, and pharmacy,
and could form advisory and working groups made up of representatives from universities,
trade unions, non-governmental organizations, and institutions of public service (CEDAW,
1993). The founding of the National AIDS Commission (Ulusal AIDS Komisyonu – UAK) in
1996 was one of the most important initiatives of the association. In this committee, TPAD
brought together different players from different sectors and played a major role in the
formation of this national network against AIDS in Turkey (Başer, 1998). One of the other
important organizations in the field of HIV and AIDS was IKGV (The Human Resources
Development Foundation – İnsan Kaynağını Geliştirme Vakfı), which was founded in
Istanbul in 1988. In the beginning, it carried out projects to improve reproductive health care,
mother-child health, and family planning. Since 1994, following an “international conference
on Population and Development (ICPD)” in Cairo,6 the organization has also been committed
to a human rights-based HIV and AIDS policy and is conducting various projects, campaigns,
and research in this area. AIDS prevention, the sexual health of young people, the prevention
of sexualized violence, the fight against human trafficking, and child labour are among the
other priorities of the organization, which in the early 2000s also started dealing with

6
The ICPD took place through the initiative of the United Nations Population Fund in 1994 with the
participation of 179 countries. At this conference, a new global population policy was adopted with a
declaration. With this text, the governments involved committed themselves to implementing a jointly
adopted action plan in their own countries. Some of the key issues of this action plan are combating
HIV and AIDS and working against discrimination in the field of health and health services. (For more
on this topic see: UNPF, 2014).
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migration and flight in Turkey and supporting refugees there (Human Resource Development
Foundation, without date).
HIV and AIDS interventions at the state level
It was a success in the fight against HIV and AIDS that TPAD initiated the first action plan
against HIV and AIDS in 1994 and was able to win state and non-state institutions over to it.
From the point of view of movement history, this action plan can be considered a first attempt
at lobbying within the AIDS movement. Within the context of this project, the goal was to
develop a “national policy to combat AIDS” and to found a commission to do so. In 1996, the
National AIDS Commission (Ulusal AIDS Komisyonu – UAK) was founded under the
direction of the prime minister. The coordination office of the commission was placed under
the Ministry of Health, and the “Family Planning Association in Turkey” took over the task as
secretariat of this body. The commission consisted of civil society, 10 ministries, TRT (state
television), and various professional branches that have a direct connection to HIV and AIDS.
The National AIDS Commission had four working groups:
• social education,
• social counselling and support,
• academic work, and
• legislation
At the time of its founding the UAK was intended to observe the official strategies for
managing HIV and AIDS, to evaluate them, and to plan effective prevention measures, as
well as to support the implementation of these measures. In addition, this commission was
supposed to meet twice a year and react as quickly as possible to any exceptional
circumstances. For example, at the request of WHO, the commission was recalled in 2015 to
develop and implement new prevention strategies and action plans because of the huge
increase in HIV infections. The UAK was furthermore authorized to invite institutions outside
the member organizations to its meetings, and if necessary to seek counsel from them. Since
its founding the UAK has carried out several national plans of strategy and action and
achieved its work through smaller working groups. The work of the UAK is based on the
general principles of human rights. In relation to responding to HIV and AIDS in Turkey and
protecting the human rights of people with HIV, the following working principles of the
commission are significant:
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UAK Principle 4 – Every individual, every group, state or non-state institution has the
responsibility to protect itself from HIV and AIDS and to recognize and advocate for the
human rights of people with HIV. AIDS can be combated in a climate in which equal rights
and duties rule. Individuals voluntarily take part in this by believing in the future and on the
basis of their own interests.
UAK Principle 12 – HIV and AIDS related policies and socio-pedagogical measures
(education) are to be shaped and carried out with the active participation of people with HIV
and AIDS.
UAK Principle 22 – State institutions, laws, and practices should not foster any discrimination
against people with the HIV virus (sic). They should serve to protect them.
UAK Principle 23 – State institutions take advice from international organizations in order to
conceive national policies for prevention, treatment, and social support and to make use of
international support.
UAK Principle 25 – State institutions are responsible for the protection of public health.
These institutions bear the responsibility for creating the policies and strategies to protect
against HIV and AIDS and to facilitate access to health care for all citizens.
The commission has no legal entity, so its resolutions, recommendations, and goals are not
legally binding. It functions as a kind of advisory group for the state and civil society. The
members of the UAK are either employed in state agencies or they are representatives of non-
governmental organizations. The working groups and their members work on a voluntary
basis. The members meet exclusively in meetings that have become fairly irregular over the
years. Participation in the meetings is also voluntary and regular participation is not expected.
For these reasons, there are constant difficulties in maintaining cooperation. Even if the
National AIDS Commission is an important step in the fights against HIV and AIDS, it is not
very influential in political decision-making processes because structurally it neither has legal
entity nor is it an institution of the state or a similarly functioning organization. There is
therefore very little material sponsorship for the work of the UAK, which is why the proposed
goals of observation, evaluation, and planning cannot be effectively followed.
Even if the UAK has not yet been able to do any effective work, its founding idea is an
important political sign for the legal improvement of the health care system, for the protection
of people with HIV from discrimination and stigma, and for human rights-based prevention
strategies.
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Today there are several non-governmental organizations that are calling on the state to
support the UAK structurally and to formalize its existence. The commission met relatively
regularly from 1996 until 2007. Due to the enormous increase in HIV cases in Turkey, the
commission was called up again and in 2015 the members met once more (which means that
between 2007 and 2015 there was no meeting at all). The 2015 meeting not only included
participation by representatives from the various ministries, but also from science and civil
society. Martin Donoghue from the WHO Regional Office for Europe was also invited to this
meeting. In his lecture, Donoghue gave a report on the rate of increase of HIV infections at a
European level. According to his report, this increase was 467% in Turkey in the period
between 2004 and 2013. At a wider European level this figure was 81% (Pozitif Yaşam
Derneği, 2015).
The third phase: The AKP’s New Turkey and the new public health policy:
2002-2015
Self-organizations for and by HIV-positive people
After Turkey was officially recognized as a candidate for joining the European Union at the
EU Summit in Helsinki in 1999, international expectations rose with regard to reforms aimed
at improving due process and the conditions for minorities and for civil society in general.
Turkey reacted by passing a series of so-called “harmonization packages”. The legal and
constitutional changes proposed included above all those concerning the expansion of
freedom of thought and expression, the prevention of torture, the freedom and security of the
individual, the right to privacy, the inviolability of the home, the freedom of communication,
the freedom of residence and movement, the freedom of association, and gender equality. At
the level of civil society, changes were to be instituted in the areas of gender equality,
protection of children and the infirm, as well as freedom of assembly (Çetin, 2016). These
EU-induced developments in Turkey had an immediate effect on the new social movements
and contributed to the process of their institutionalization in the form of associations and/or
by receiving the status of legal persons, which began in the second half of the 1980s and won
stability with the reformation of the Turkish Associations Law.
The parliamentary elections in autumn 2002 led to the Justice and Development Party (AKP)
taking power for the first time. Due to the heavy fragmentation in the party system and an
extreme majority voting system, the AKP was able to win an absolute majority in parliament
with only 34.2% of votes, which was to fundamentally alter the political and economic
situation of the country in the long term. The AKP, which presented itself – despite its
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Islamist roots – as a conservative-democratic party, declared the fulfilment of the political

criteria from Copenhagen as part of its program. In its election platform in 2002 it called for a
comprehensive reform of the constitution, meant to guarantee rights to all sections of the
population regardless of their “differences” (ibid.). The platform in 2007 also cited the goal to
reform the constitution, which was meant to be achieved by the 100th anniversary of the
republic (2023). The one-party government of the AKP brought political stability and led to
an economic boom. In a rapid reform process a series of harmonization packages were passed
as part of the EU accession process, which influenced the next elections in July 2007 in
favour of the AKP. The AKP was given credit for the path they were taking by large parts of
the society. Along with the leading oppositional party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP),
business leaders, academia, civil society, and the majority of the population endorsed joining
the EU. This phase was of great importance for representatives of different social movements
in order to gain visibility. For example, in November 2004, as part of the EU negotiations, the
Turkish Associations Law was reformed. Now interest groups could found associations with
significantly less bureaucratic efforts. The (old) Associations Law, adopted in 1983, not only
had codified restrictions, but also maintained strict control of the associations and all of their
activities. It forbade associations to do any political work, lobbying, and representation.
“Limitations on the establishment of associations on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sect,
region, or any other minority group are removed with the new law. Although constitutional
prohibitions which could be used to restrict the establishment of certain kinds of association
are invoked in the new law, recent practice suggests that associations are increasingly
permitted to open, even when established on the basis of currently prohibited categories”
(Commission of the European Communities, 2004). The new act was limited to setting the
framework for founding associations and only contains 40 articles, whereas the old
Associations Law consisted of 97. It lifted a number of restrictions that were introduced after
the military coup in 1980, thus alleviating the difficulties of organizing associations,
platforms, and foundations in civil society (Çetin, 2016).
With the strengthening of the AKP government under the reign of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and
the adoption of the new Associations Law, one can speak of the beginning of a new phase of
HIV and AIDS policy in that the new Associations Law encouraged queer-feminist, anti-
racist, and system-critical activists, including those who fight discrimination against people
with HIV and stand up for equal treatment for all people in the health system.
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The phase of Positive Living
One of the important organizations for combating HIV and AIDS currently was founded in
Istanbul in 2005, one year after the passing of the new Associations Law, with the name
“Positive Living Association” (Pozitif Yaşam Derneği). This association brings together
people with HIV and AIDS, their families, activists, and experts. The group’s main goal is
free and accessible medical care, as well as psychological support for people with HIV and
AIDS.
According to their self-presentation, the initiative “Positive Living” was formed in 2003 by a
few people with HIV in order to support each other. In the course of the first few years, the
support of some activists, medical doctors, and people working with UNAIDS could be won
by the group. The first activities of the association were organized through an electronic
mailing list titled “HIV POZITIF”, also serving to network HIV-positive people. This was
especially important for those who did not live in Istanbul and therefore were unable to obtain
vital information on the ground. The mailing list also served as a kind of safer space where
HIV-positive people could empower themselves. In this mailing list, the participants
exchanged their experiences as people living with HIV and therefore exposed to different
forms of discrimination and stigma. Through this exchange of experiences, one can assume
that they supported each other and built a collective awareness of emancipatory self-
organization. In 2004, some participants in this list decided to set up an association for and by
HIV-positive people. Since that year, it was possible for almost all groups in the population to
establish their own associations or to gain institutional status in the form of self-organization.
So the Pozitif Yaşam Derneği association was founded in Istanbul in June 2005. Because
people with HIV were among the initiators of Pozitif Yaşam Derneği, the association is also
considered by doctors, lawyers, and people with HIV to be the first self-organization in the
history of HIV and AIDS policy in Turkey. Since 2006, the association has received funding
from the Global Fund and the Ministry of Health in Turkey. Since its inception, the
association has also been recognized by the Ministry as a representative of people living with
HIV and is invited to attend meetings of the UAK because of its expertise.
Pozitif Yaşam Derneği has been offering free peer counselling for HIV-positive persons and
their relatives, psychosocial support, psychotherapy, nutritional counselling, legal support and
the establishment of contact with attorneys-at-law, assistance with access to free medicines
and treatment, and free HIV testing. In addition to these offers aimed specifically at the target
group, the association organizes workshops as well as further education and awareness-raising
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seminars for people from different sectors of work. Pozitif Yaşam Derneği has been trying to
create a lobby for people with HIV since its inception. To this end, human rights violations
against HIV-positive people are monitored, documented, and published, questions are posed
to members of parliament on a regular basis, legislation to enhance the rights of HIV-positive
people in different areas (constitution, labour and civil law as well as criminal law) is
proposed, and international cooperation with other organizations is sought.
Another organization founded in 2006 in the period of the AKP and the new Associations
Law is the Association of the Positive (Pozitifler Derneği – PODER). This association is
considered the second organization by and for HIV-positive people in Turkey. PODER works
directly with and for people with HIV and tries to provide HIV-positive people with access to
health care services and to support them in their positive living in the domestic or everyday
life area. PODER saw itself neither as an activist association nor as a representative of people
with HIV. The association limited itself to supporting HIV-positive people in need of
domestic care and other forms of aid in their everyday lives through care, support, and
counselling (Çokar et al., 2008). This association no longer exists today and neither in
literature nor in the internet is there any detailed information to be found about its work and
projects.
HIV/AIDS NGO platform
Even though several organizations, groups and initiatives have been formed in Turkey, and
have participated in different socio-political arenas, e.g. in health policy, their effectiveness is
either very limited or temporary in nature due to domestic political reasons. Muhtar Çokar
attributes this situation, among other factors, to the structural conditions imposed by state
institutions (Çokar, 2006b). In detail, he outlines the situation as follows:
• HIV and AIDS prevention is not one of the priority areas on the health policy agenda
of the state and the public services. Non-governmental organizations therefore do not
receive social-political support for their activities.
• Even though the UAK consists of a large number of governmental and non-
governmental organizations and institutions, its power of action is limited because it
lacks status as a legal person, or rather dependent on the general health policy of the
governing party, whose agenda has different priorities. Non-governmental
organizations are particularly affected by this situation, which means that their role in
the design and implementation of national HIV and AIDS policies remains marginal.
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• Until the mid-2000s there was no continuous program in Turkey for monitoring and
evaluating the spread of HIV infections. This has resulted in the failure of the
planning, design, and implementation of HIV and AIDS policies in Turkey and
uncertainty about the future prevention and anti-discrimination activities of non-
governmental organizations.
• Under these social and health policy conditions, there was either inequality in the
distribution of financial resources or they were used otherwise and therefore could not
fulfil their purpose in terms of prevention and anti-discrimination.
Because of this marginalization of non-governmental organizations, which are mainly

representative of certain groups, a new association was launched in 2007 with the name
“HIV/AIDS STK Platformu” (HIV/AIDS Civil Society Platform). Ten non-governmental
organizations, including KAOS GL, Pembe Hayat LGBTT Dayanisma Derneği, Pozitifler
Derneği, Pozitif Yaşam Derneği, and IKGV, participated in this platform (ibid.). The platform
aimed at tackling the global, regional, and local causes of HIV and sensitizing society to the
issue. Prevention, social support for people with HIV, and the development of human rights-
based monitoring, counselling and treatment concepts, lobbying, and public relations are
further objectives of the platform.
In the third phase of the history of HIV and AIDS, self-organizations as well as others dealing
with sexually transmittable infections and reproductive health are focusing on the legal
situation of people with HIV as well as HIV and AIDS legal regulations and basic conditions.
Although in the early years the topic of HIV and AIDS was discussed in the media as well as
on the level of health policy, there were no legal regulations to protect people with HIV
against discrimination and stigma in institutional and social areas of public life. With the rise
in HIV infections since the 2000s, the labor and civil law issues that have increasingly
affected HIV-positive people became more visible, and new legislation is needed to improve
the situation of people living with HIV (Çokar, 2008). As part of a cooperation between the
Ministry of Health and the Global Fund, a new program “HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support
Program for Turkey” (Türkiye HIV/AIDS Önleme ve Destek Programı) was launched in 2005
(ibid.). Within the framework of this program all areas of the law affecting people with HIV
are to be reviewed and evaluated; then proposals to the government are to be formulated,
aiming to improve their legal situation. The platform renders its work visible in the form of
questions posed to political parties and the parliament.
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Program for Turkey
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Due to the increase in HIV infections in this phase, international health organizations such as
the WHO and the Global Fund are increasingly interfering in Turkey’s health policy on the
one hand, while on the other initiating concrete cooperation on HIV and AIDS prevention and
anti-discrimination work. For instance, the “HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Program for
Turkey” (Türkiye HIV/AIDS Önleme ve Destek Programı) is a good example of an
intersectoral and nationwide project involving not only the state institutions, but also various
organizations from the field of reproductive health, as well as self-organizations of people
with HIV, such as the Association of Positive Living. This project, funded by the Global Fund
between 2005-2007, enabled a more or less successful cooperation between the state and civil
society; on the other hand, it aimed at HIV and AIDS work that fully takes into account the
needs and problems of people living with HIV as well as sensitizing society as a whole, the
media, and the public and private health institutions to the issue. A total of eleven projects
have been carried out in five large cities, a number of voluntary consulting and anonymous
test centres opened, and a wide range of brochures and leaflets with information for different
target groups (police, media, NGOs, and certain key groups such as sex workers, men who
have sex with men, prisoners, drug users, etc.) appeared. In addition to the publications and
the opening of the consulting and testing centres, numerous further educational courses as
well as workshops were implemented. As part of a project, the Positive Living association
also took on the evaluation of existing laws (for example, employment, civil, and criminal
law) and the drafting of new legislation to protect people from discrimination based on a
possible HIV status (KLIMIK, 2015; Çokar et al., 2008).
While in the 2000s there was a decline in HIV infections in western countries, there has been
a rapid rise in Turkey for reasons that have not yet been sufficiently investigated (NTV,
2015). There are a variety of explanations for the increase in HIV-positive people in Turkey.
First, some scientists assume that there are more and more people in Turkey who are informed
and sensitized about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and can therefore be
tested, which ultimately leads to an increase in the number of registered HIV-positive data. So
the more people get tested, the higher the statistics would be year after year. On the other
hand, there are other scientists who observe certain changes in people’s safe/unsafe sexual
behavior. These assume that people would be prone to unsafe forms of sexual behavior due to
improved treatment options and assured access to different medications, which would
ultimately contribute to the spread of the infection. Another assumption is that, as a result of
improved health services, fewer and fewer people are dying of HIV and AIDS, but new
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infections are constantly being added so that the number of people living with HIV does not
remain constant, but it continues to increase due to the new registered cases.
E X C U R S E : HIV AND AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
According to the research done so far, there are several international projects on the topic of
HIV/AIDS that have included participation by agents from Turkey. The organizations usually
finance their projects by means of international funds (usually EU funds) and the Turkish
Ministry of Health. The following are three of the most important international organizations
and networks supporting projects in Turkey:
World Health Organisation (WHO)
Turkey belongs to the founding states of the WHO and has been a member since June 9, 1949.
Since becoming a member, Turkey has also accepted the Constitution of the World Health
Organization. Geographically, the WHO places Turkey in the European realm. There is a
WHO country office in Turkey. Turkey receives regular material support for local projects
from the WHO. The Ministry of Health in Turkey has a positive view of the relationship
between the WHO and Turkey. At the end of the 1980s Turkey introduced the first National
AIDS Control Program on the basis of WHO recommendations. The WHO observes and
documents the spread of HIV infection and publishes these with recommendations for health
policy. The Ministry of Health follows the recommendations and goals of the WHO and
attempts to implement them. Some examples of the recommendations formulated by the
WHO are: a) verifying political and economic structures in order to facilitate access to health
care for everyone in order to prevent HIV/AIDS, b) integrating approaches like harm
reduction with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, mother-child health, and drug users, c) support and
fortification of the health care system in order to develop and expand public health, d)
protecting key populations through new measures against legal and structural barriers (Pozitif
Yaşam Derneği, 2010).
UNFPA–United Nations Population Fund 7
UNFPA started working in 1969 and began working with the Government of Turkey in 1971.
UNFPA Turkey activities were initially carried out on a project-by-project basis. Since the
beginning of this cooperation the UNPFA has supported Turkey in the areas listed below:8

7
This section is taken from the website of the UNFPA and includes minor changes.
Zülfukar Çetin
• Promoting mother and child health,

• Improving reproductive health and rights,
• Empowering young people to fulfil their potential
• Promoting gender equality,
• Combating violence against women,
• Enhancing the collection, use, and dissemination of development data.
UNDP (The United Nations Development Program) and UNAIDS
UNDP Turkey plays an active role in the UN Country Team’s Thematic Group on HIV/AIDS
to integrate HIV/AIDS issues and concerns into UNDP’s programs and strategies. In
partnership with other UN agencies in Turkey, UNDP contributes to the objectives of
strengthening the national response to HIV/AIDS, supporting advocacy and coalition-building
among national stakeholders, and supporting education, training, and awareness-raising. In
particular, UNDP’s programmes focusing on young people and street children in south-
eastern Anatolia (the GAP region) will enable awareness-raising and training on HIV/AIDS
related issues. These in turn help to strengthen national efforts at awareness and prevention
among at-risk and vulnerable populations.
UNAIDS: A joint response to HIV/AIDS
The joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, is the main advocate for
global action on the epidemic. It leads, strengthens, and supports an expanded response aimed
at preventing transmission of HIV, providing care and support, reducing the vulnerability of
individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS, and alleviating the impact of the epidemic.

8
UNFPA. Available at: http://turkey.unfpa.org/tr/node/9295 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2018].
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CONCLUSION
The history of HIV and AIDS policy in Turkey can be subsumed from four perspectives:
• HIV and AIDS policy from an institutional or governmental perspective,

• HIV and AIDS policy from the perspective of NGOs,
• HIV and AIDS policy from the perspective of self-representation (advocacy) and
finally,
• HIV and AIDS policy from the intersectoral perspective
HIV and AIDS policy from the institutional or governmental perspective primarily means
state intervention and strategies since the early stages of HIV and AIDS in Turkey. On the
basis of the history described in this article, it can be said that the Turkish Ministry of Health
reacted relatively quickly to the spreading of HIV infections and made the first steps in
prevention and health education. For example, the High Advisory Board on AIDS was
established in 1987, the National AIDS Committee was established in 1993, and the National
AIDS Commission was established in 1996 by state and non-state initiatives. Since the first
phase, blood and organ donors and registered sex workers have been tested for HIV. Since
2002, future married couples have to be tested before the wedding in order to determine
whether or not the prospective spouses are HIV-positive. However, HIV-positive test results
do not bar people from marrying (Çokar et al., 2008). In addition, all health care facilities
offering the HIV test are required to transfer the number of clients and the results to the
Ministry of Health. Even though Turkey is always guided by the recommendations and
guidelines of the WHO in the area of sexually transmittable infections, it can be seen at the
institutional level that the state-sponsored prevention work was initially based on an overall
control policy. However, the discussion in this article has equally shown that the protection of
people living with HIV has also attracted increasing attention at the institutional level and that
more and more anti-discrimination and sensitizing projects such as free and anonymous
counselling and test centres are being promoted, the number of which increases every year.
HIV and AIDS policy from the NGO’s point of view describes the HIV and AIDS work of
non-governmental organizations, emphasizing reproductive health, family planning, women
and health, and mother-child health. In the initial phase of the HIV and AIDS work, these
organizations had the leading role and focused on the level of civil society. The Family
Planning Association in Turkey (TAPD), the Family Planning and Health Foundation
(TAPV), and the Human Resources Development Foundation (IKGV) have been providing
preventive and later anti-discrimination work since the mid-1980s and are still active in this
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area. These organizations initiated the first cooperation with the state and at the same time
with the international health organizations and contributed to the improvement of sexual and
reproductive health. Without claiming to represent them, they also worked for and with the
vulnerable groups which have greater potential for HIV infection due to their precarious
socio-economic living conditions.
HIV and AIDS policy from the perspective of self/representation here means the work of
certain self-organizations who were and are working for and with people with HIV. In the
earlier stages of the second phase, organizations with a focus on HIV and AIDS, among
others, were established under the umbrella term “sexually transmittable diseases” and
reproductive health. Their goal was to create a lobby for people with HIV and to represent
them on different levels of society. However, they were not founded by people with HIV, but
by some medical doctors and members of other social movements. They represented people
with HIV both in the public health and anti-discrimination policies as well as in the general
public. This claim of representing people with HIV by doctors has been legitimized by the
successes of the anti-AIDS work at the local, regional, and global levels, although in later
phases different conflicts of interest and financial problems arose and the first interest
organizations like AIDS Savaşım Derneği and AIDS ile Mücadele Derneği had to close. With
the new Associations Law described above, new organizations or associations were founded
after 2004 based on the argument of the necessity of self-representation. Thus the
organizations Positive Living Association (Pozitif Yaşam Derneği), in 2005, and Association
of the Positive (Pozitifler Derneği), in 2006, were founded by and for people with HIV,
among others. These new associations proved not only able to continue the successful work of
the older AIDS organizations on the non-governmental level, but also to expand it on behalf
of the target groups to the level of representation.
HIV and AIDS policy from the intersectoral perspective means the close collaboration of
different non-governmental organizations from different sectors or fields of work and their
interventions in the state’s HIV and AIDS policy since the beginning of the history of HIV
and AIDS. While Turkey has experienced a political upheaval with the AKP in power since
2002, a new awareness of self-organization has emerged in all areas of society. The new
Associations Law, adopted within the framework of the harmonization packages resulting
from the country’s intended accession to the EU, and facilitating the establishment of a legal
entity, also contributed to a boom in the founding of new associations which had emerged
from the earlier new social movements and/or activism and were now, through the status of
legal entity, able to work in a more professional way. The HIV/AIDS STK Platformu
Zülfukar Çetin
(HIV/AIDS NGO Platform), the founding history and objectives of which have been
discussed above, can be regarded as a prime example for intersectoral HIV and AIDS work.
This platform has achieved national and international co-operation with different
organizations and (health) scientific institutions, with the aim of expanding the number of
member organizations nationwide. It has adopted concrete tasks under headings such as
Communication/PR, Information/Education, Resource Development, Representation of
Interest, Observation of Human Rights Violations, and Research. This HIV and AIDS NGO
platform has been able to reach national and international NGOs, private and governmental
institutions from different sectors. Taking into account the history recounted here so far, HIV
and AIDS policy at the intersectoral level can be viewed as a gain for different actors.
With the intersectoral HIV and AIDS policy approach, many sectors and areas have been
sensitized to the issue; in addition to the prevention work a more or less functioning anti-
discrimination policy could be developed; HIV and AIDS are no longer defined by so-called
risk groups; an understanding of self-organization and self-representation has prevailed, and
in this context, the state has been constantly called upon following a human rights-based HIV
and AIDS policy. Although these developments seem positive at first sight, both the self-
organizations, such as Pozitif Yaşam Derneği, as well as other actors from different socio-
political areas, seek to maximize the improvements and criticize the failure of the state’s
human rights policy also with regard to people with HIV.
LOOKING FORWARD
Within the framework of this working paper, an attempt was made to provide an overview of
the historical development of HIV and AIDS politics in Turkey from the interrelated
perspectives of activism, civil society, health policy, and media along three phases. The goal
of this working paper was not to present how these histories are interrelated with other
histories of social movements, but to trace them in their complexity and interdependencies.
While working on the EUROPACH project and in exchange with other researchers from
Poland, the UK, Switzerland, and Germany, several new research questions on the history of
HIV and AIDS in Turkey were proposed, which either had to remain open in this working
paper or at the very most answered cursorily.
One example of the central questions that remain open is “how and whether we can consider
the HIV and AIDS movement in Turkey a new social movement,” in light of the fact that
“old” social movements, which were understood as either left-wing or right-wing, had been
destroyed during the 1980s by the military regime. A large number of intellectuals as well as
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left-wing and right-wing activists from the old social movements fled to European countries
or the USA after the military coup, where they came into contact with the new social
movements in the respective western, post-industrialist countries. After returning to Turkey in
the second half of the 1980s, during which the political bans established by the coup had been
lifted, the former exiles attempted to import the new social movements, which had existed in
the western countries since at least the 1960s, to Turkey. One example of this is the queer
movement in Turkey, although the emergence of this movement cannot be restricted to the
influence of the western movements.9 The fact that trans sex workers engaged in a hunger
strike in 1987, not only as a struggle for recognition of their identity, but also for basic human
rights, or that LGBTI groups had collectively protested against police violence in Istanbul’s
queer streets in 1996, are reminiscent for many queer activists in Turkey today of the
Stonewall Riots in the US. In order to address the question above on a better understanding
and consideration of the HIV and AIDS movement, I referred in this paper to the concept of
new social movements taken from Donatella della Porta and Mario Diani (della Porta &
Diani, 1999). According to them, a new social movement is characterized by collective
organizing in post-industrial countries, by the demand to restructure the concept of equal
citizenship, and by the call for establishment of new individual rights. For della Porta und
Diani the agents of the new social movements demand close cooperation between the state
and those citizens and their representatives that are marked as “others” and thus remain
marginal as unequal/outsider citizens in political discussions. This means that new social
movements insist on publicness, or in transparent discussions of political topics that had
previously been treated without the participation of the affected groups by the ruling
politicians and the political parties present in the parliament. The goal of the new social
movements is for the agents of the movements to be recognized as equal citizens in the policy
world, for them to be allowed to have a voice in political affairs. It is against this backdrop
that they question the ordinary concept of citizenship and seek to redefine it (Topal
Demiroğlu, 2014).
Since the social structure in Turkey is markedly heterogeneous due to the particularities of its
geography, economy, politics, and specific population groups, the concepts of new social
movements established in the west cannot be directly transferred over, and certainly not
always for the entire country. Because the differences in Turkey between eastern and western,
urban and rural, rich and poor, Sunni and Alevi, as well as Turkish and non-Turkish are so
clearly and historically anchored, the social movements that arise there must be examined

9
For more on this see (Çetin, 2016).
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against the backdrop of these specific political and social histories. In this context, a further
question was raised as to the causal connection between the Kurdish movement and the HIV-
AIDS movement, which again requires a particular analysis. In order to address this, however,
a subsequent question should be asked, namely whether or not the Kurdish movement can be
viewed as a new social movement. Even if the activists and militants in the Kurdish
movement can generally be described as leftist, and their struggle is based on Frantz Fanon’s
theory of legitimate anti-colonial violence (Fanon, 1961), it is difficult to classify it as a new
or old social movement. And it is not only this theoretical basis of the Kurdish movement that
make such a classification impossible, but also the political circumstances under which this
struggle was, and still is, being carried out. Aside from this problematic, it is clear that both
the Kurdish and the HIV and AID movements arose during the same period under the similar
political circumstances of a military regime. While Kurds struggled for recognition of their
basic rights, such as the right to their language, their land, the freedom to practice their
religious and cultural traditions, for education, health, and housing, the war between Turkey
and the PKK destroyed areas inhabited by the Kurdish population on all social levels. Neither
the Turkish state nor the warring PKK party bore the brunt from this war. Because of this war
Kurdish citizens were forced either to abandon their towns and villages and to migrate to
western Turkey, or if they remained they had to lead their lives in a destroyed Kurdistan, for
instance without access to education and health care. In this respect, the early activists in the
HIV and AIDS movement were also aware that there were also people in Kurdistan who,
while they were indeed Turkish citizens, were nonetheless not capable or not allowed to take
advantage of their rights as citizens. Early HIV and AIDS activists, for example in Antep and
Diyarbakir–two large cities in Kurdistan–took up a variety of prevention and medical care
measures, working in solidarity with Kurds affected by war. This kind of solidarity is typical
for the new social movements, because a collective was formed time and again in opposition
to existing state power in order to be able to struggle together, not only for human rights as
they pertained to specific groups, but also in general, and to compel the state to engage in
these debates on human rights in public, with and for those affected.
Another question from the research groups was “how the focus on human rights became
central to the Turkish social movements.” Turkey is a country that still does not belong to the
European Union for a variety of reasons, and that by now, due to the conservative
government, no longer will/wants to become a member of that union. Nonetheless, since the
end of the Second World War Turkey has participated in the constitution of several
international and supranational organizations, institutions, and commissions, either as a co-
Zülfukar Çetin
founder or as a signatory. In 1949, for instance, long before the creation of the EU, Turkey
joined the Council of Europe, in which debates about human rights were held, and human
rights conventions and anti-discrimination guidelines were negotiated and adopted. Turkey
has also been a founding member of the World Health Organization since 1946, and ratified
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on April 6, 1949. These examples
indicate that the topic of human rights has not only been relevant within the new social
movements, but has long been an essential component of a country that has, ever since it was
founded, been between a (colonial) political Europe and a homogenous Muslim Near and
Middle East defined as foreign. Due to its geographical position, an important geopolitical
role has been ascribed to Turkey time and again, or Turkey has been made responsible for the
security of Europe, for instance when a “refugee deal” was struck in 2016 to house refugees
from Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan in order to block their way to “liberal” Europe. Alongside
this border regime, which is based in arguments about international security, economically
influenced military interventions by the Global North have usually been justified with
reference to some sort of human rights violations in the Near and Middle East (women’s
rights and gay rights) (Yılmaz-Günay, 2014). The question of human rights “there” has thus
been turned into an instrument of global power relations “here.”
The understanding of human rights, like in many places in the world, is above all based on
equal treatment or non-discrimination of persons, independently of any racist,
heteronormative, colonial-capitalist qualities attributed to them. This means that the struggles
against colonial-racist, cultural-dominant, nationalist, heteronormative, and class-based power
relations can be found everywhere, since wherever there are movements for human rights,
there are also practices of human rights abuses. The question of how the topic of human rights
has taken on a central role in Turkish social movements can be worked out through further
research in Turkey, on site, and with the agents of the movements, and above all mediated
from their perspectives. Working with the histories and politics of HIV and AIDS in Turkey
has shown that these histories and politics are interwoven, and cannot be viewed separately
from one another. From the perspectives of these agents, HIV and AIDS prevention and anti-
discrimination work in Turkey cannot be limited to a marginalized population group, such as
LGBTI, (trans) sex workers, or prisoners. Because the first generation of HIV and AIDS
movements recognized the social dimensions of the epidemic relatively early on, they have
worked against discrimination alongside securing social health policies. Different agents in
Turkey constantly emphasize the necessity of working on human rights from the perspectives
of the state, the civil society, activism, and those affected. The founding of a (not always
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effective) National AIDS Commission was an attempt to establish human rights-based HIV
and AIDS politics in collaboration with international and supranational organizations.
One final question posed be EUROPACH researchers should be addressed here: “What has
changed through all these developments and interventions. Is there something like a
normalization? Or an institutionalization? Or professionalization?” One purpose of this paper
was to trace the political and social transformations in Turkey without necessarily making a
complete claim to represent these social movements, political and social developments. It was
clear that on the one hand HIV and AIDS have generated discriminatory politics and practices
on various levels of society. At the same time, however, anti-discrimination movements have
been organized that are not only dedicated only to protecting HIV positive people, but also
seek to contribute to social awareness. Since the beginning these movements have defined
those affected by HIV and AIDS not by means of any identity marker (defined from outside).
They have viewed HIV and AIDS as a problem for society as a whole, which should be
approached horizontally. For example, the term “risk groups,” which was imported from the
west, was criticized relatively early on, and a new understanding of “risk behaviour” was
developed instead. According to this critical perspective all people, regardless of their age,
sex/gender, sexual orientation, profession, ethnic/racialized affiliation, nationality, social
status, etc., can belong to risk groups. That is why critical actors in the field prefer to speak
about risky behaviour rather than risk groups. As mentioned above, it is primarily the
intensive collaboration between a variety of state and non-state actors, as well and national
and international organizations, that has led to this understanding. Aygen Tümer, who works
at Hacetepe University HIV/AIDS Treatment and Research Centre (HATAM), also confirms
the assumption that the term is no longer being used in recent years. Instead they speak of
people who show/practice risk behaviour. “Risk behaviour” is thus no longer reduced to
sexual behaviour and sexual practices, but expanded to include other behavioural patterns that
can lead to infection with HIV. This exemplary development can be viewed as an indication
of normalization and professionalization, at least in the field of HIV and AIDS politics in
Turkey. The most current situation under a conservative-repressive government has not been
explicitly addressed in this paper. Such a reflection has been opened up in the framework of
the EUROPACH project, as well as in the form of oral histories and interviews with experts
and other actors in the field of HIV and AIDS online, as well as in the form of books and
further publications.
*Translated from German by Salih Alexander Wolter and Daniel Hendrickson
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Zülfukar Çetin

Intertwined Movements, Interwoven Histories: HIV & AIDS in Turkey

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Working Paper

The “Disentangling European HIV/AIDS Policies: Activism,

We suggest the following citation for this text:

Çetin, Zülfukar (2017): Intertwined Movements, Interwoven

HIV and AIDS in Turkey ........................................................................................................... 4

The Health System in Turkey..................................................................................................... 5

Access to Health Care for People with HIV ............................................................................ 11

The second phase: institutionalization and self-organization: 1992-2002 ............................ 16

HIV and AIDS interventions at the non-governmental level ............................................ 16

HIV and AIDS interventions at the state level .................................................................. 21

Self-organizations for and by HIV-positive people ........................................................... 23

The phase of Positive Living ............................................................................................. 25

HIV/AIDS NGO platform ................................................................................................. 26

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Program for Turkey .................................................. 27

Excurse: HIV and AIDS and international collaboration......................................................... 29

World Health Organisation (WHO) ...................................................................................... 29

UNFPA–United Nations Population Fund............................................................................ 29

UNDP (The United Nations Development Program) and UNAIDS .................................... 30

UNAIDS: A joint response to HIV/AIDS ............................................................................ 30

Looking forward ....................................................................................................................... 33

Reference List .......................................................................................................................... 38

HIV AND AIDS 1 I N T U R K E Y

THE HEALTH SYSTEM IN TURKEY

• Integrative services (protection and treatment): Cottage hospitals and local

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV

The first phase and the case of Murtaza E.: 1985-1992

• since 1986: HIV testing of all blood and blood products

The second phase: institutionalization and self-organization: 1992-2002

HIV and AIDS interventions at the non-governmental level

HIV and AIDS interventions at the state level

Self-organizations for and by HIV-positive people

Islamist roots – as a conservative-democratic party, declared the fulfilment of the political

The phase of Positive Living

HIV/AIDS NGO platform

Because of this marginalization of non-governmental organizations, which are mainly

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Program for Turkey

E X C U R S E : HIV AND AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

World Health Organisation (WHO)

UNFPA–United Nations Population Fund 7

• Promoting mother and child health,

UNDP (The United Nations Development Program) and UNAIDS

UNAIDS: A joint response to HIV/AIDS

• HIV and AIDS policy from an institutional or governmental perspective,

*Translated from German by Salih Alexander Wolter and Daniel Hendrickson

Çokar M. (2006a). Türkiye'de CYBE/HIV/AIDS Alanında STK'ların Rolü ve Yapısal

Commission of the European Communities (2004). Regular Report on Turkey’s progress

Deldal, Y. (2015). Ülkemizde yeşil kart gerçeği ve güncel uygulamalarla değerlendirmesi.

Human Resource Development Foundation (IKGV) (without date). Preface [online]

Kurt, A. and Şaşmaz, T. (2012). Türkiye‘de Sağlık Hizmetlerinin Sosyalleştirilmesi: 1961–

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Sağlık Bakanlığı (Ministry of Health), (2015). Sağlık Bakanlığının

UNPF, (2014). Program of Action of the International Conference on Population

Yılmaz-Günay, K. (ed.) (2014). Karriere eines konstruierten Gegensatzes: zehn Jahre

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