Young Iraqi gays find safe haven in Turkey

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Iraqi militants warned Ameer they would kill him for working with the U.S. military. Then he received a more chilling death threat — for being gay — so he sold his home in Baghdad and fled to Turkey.

Now the 28-year-old from a middle class family shares a small apartment in Istanbul with five other gay Iraqi men, exiles from a wave of intolerance, and says for the first time in his life he can express his sexual orientation in public.

Homosexuality is banned almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions for gays and lesbians in Iraq have become particularly dangerous since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces removed Saddam Hussein six years ago.

“I could be tracked down and killed if I would say I am gay,” Ameer told Reuters. “But here in Turkey we are treated as humans and we have rights, which is not the case in my country.”

REUTERS