ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that though the recognition of international LGBT rights remains an important resource for local LGBT movements across the globe, the main challenge for them lies in building political alliances with local actors. It analyzes the central role of debates about LGBT rights for the identity construction of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP). AKP's formulation of 'conservative democracy' and its attempt to transform Turkish politics in its own image has been accompanied by a reinvention of Turkish identity, democracy, and citizenship. It is in this context that the rise of the LGBT movement in Turkey took place. The growing LGBT movement and its role in the Gezi protests of 2013 present an interesting case for ongoing theoretical debates about the universality of LGBT rights in the context of postcolonial theories. The chapter suggests that Gezi protests bear important clues about how the LGBT movement can go beyond a politics of recognition and represent universality in its particularity.
