Feeling and accepting one's body and identity within a certain gender are defined as sexual identity. It is understood that the goal of transgender individuals is to achieve the appearance of the opposite sex, live like the other gender, and have their sexual organs appear as those of the other gender.
Gender transition is a highly sensitive issue due to its social, psychological, legal dimensions, and its impact on the individual's entire life. Therefore, all controversial issues should be clarified medically and legally to reduce individuals' rates of victimization. Both pre-operative and post-operative processes should be filtered separately, and each step should be evaluated with separate precision.
Article 40 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 states:
"A person who wishes to change their gender may apply in person and request permission from the court for gender reassignment. However, in order for permission to be granted, the applicant must have reached the age of eighteen and not be married, and must also be proven to be in a transgender condition and to be permanently deprived of reproductive ability from a research and training hospital by an official health board report. If it is confirmed by an official health board report that a gender reassignment surgery has been performed with the aim and medical methods specified in the permission granted, the court shall decide to make the necessary corrections in the population register."
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CONDITIONS FOR GENDER REASSIGNMENT
Certain prerequisites must be met for applicants to obtain the necessary permissions from the court. Firstly, one must be of full legal capacity and have reached the age of eighteen. Additionally, the individual must be unmarried in order to file a gender reassignment lawsuit. Being married constitutes an obstacle to being able to request gender reassignment.
The person must prove to the court that gender reassignment is necessary for their mental health. Reasons such as psychological traumas, exclusion from social circles, loneliness in a sexual sense, and lack of belonging of the soul to the body must be explained to the court.
It is not important whether the lack of reproductive ability is congenital or not; it is sufficient for the report before gender reassignment to document that the individual is deprived of reproductive ability. The phrase "deprived of reproductive ability" prevented the situation of an individual who is recognized as male in the population register giving birth, so it was seen as a reasonable condition. However, in the Constitutional Court decision dated 12/7/2018, it was decided based on Article 17 of the Constitution that individuals can undergo gender reassignment even if they have not lost their fertility. The decision is as follows:
"The right to protect and improve the material and spiritual existence guaranteed by Article 17 of the Constitution has been violated." For gender reassignment to be reflected in the population register, the necessary conditions must be fulfilled before the operation and then the operation must be documented with an official health board report.
We can examine gender reassignment as regulated in the Turkish Civil Code in three stages:
Firstly, obtaining permission from the court for gender reassignment (gender reassignment permission lawsuit)
Subsequently, the completion of the surgery process with the permission obtained and the health report
Then, the necessary arrangements in the population register, filing a population lawsuit for changing the name and gender field
Population Lawsuit for Changing Name and Gender Field After Gender Reassignment Lawsuit and Surgery
Regarding the change of name, Article 27 of the Turkish Civil Code states that a request for a name change can only be made to the judge based on valid reasons. However, there is no clear regulation in the law regarding what these valid reasons are. In addition to the existence of a valid reason for changing the name, the judge must also have a conviction in this regard.
