“Fortunately, our youth are not LGBT youth,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said recently while addressing the AKP party’s youth in a speech via teleconference, provoking mixed reactions in Turkey.

Addressing the youth of his party, and forming the Islamist greeting “rabbis”, which refers to the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdogan specifically stated: “Young people, what does this “rabbis” have? One nation. A flag. A homeland. A state (…) Fortunately, our youth are not LGBT youth. But as young people, we will transfer in the future this nation that comes from history with a glorious history “.

Responding to Tayyip Erdogan, about the presence of LBGT in Turkey, Professor Burak Copur, commented on social media that Sultan Yavuz Sultan Selim (1470-1520) had commissioned Kemal Pasazade (1468-1534) a top official of the Empire to write a book on the subject of homosexuality. The professor even posted pictures from the content of the book, which refers to the LGBT past of today’s Turkey.

Bu topraklarda LGBTİ olma mı?, Mesela Osmanlı’da Yavuz Sultan Selim Kemal Paşazade’ye bu konuyu da işleyen bir seks kitabı yazdırmış.?? https://t.co/vd60qFJpcz pic.twitter.com/NNnbsUApbQ

— Burak Çopur (@profcopur) February 2, 2021