The applicant, a national of Türkiye, requested international protection in France arguing that he faced persecution in his country of origin, due to being a homosexual. He submitted that the refusal to marry one cousin triggered serious violence and death threats. By decision of 29 April 2022, the OFPRA rejected the request and the applicant appealed before the CNDA.

The CNDA allowed the appeal and granted refugee protection. It noted that although sexual relations between persons of the same sex are not expressly criminalized in Turkish legislation, general provisions are used to prosecute, on various grounds, homosexuals and more broadly members of the LGBTI community, or to reduce the sentences handed down to attackers of LGBTI people. The CNDA also noted the ban since 2015 on the Pride march in Istanbul and the homophobic speech at the level of the authorities and society in general. The CNDA considered that, in the applicant’s case, the past persecutions constituted a serious indication of their reiteration in the event of a return to the country of origin, taking into account the persistence of the risk to which homosexual persons were exposed and also considering the failure of the authorities to prevent and sanction homophobic acts.