Zeki Bayraktar vs. transgender people
Zeki Bayraktar is a Turkish urologist and anti-transgender activist. Bayraktar is best known in Türkiye for opposing gender-transition surgery, which Bayraktar considers a “mutilation.”
Background
Bayraktar was born in 1967 in Ardeşen, in Rize province, and completed primary and secondary schooling there. Bayraktar graduated from Uludağ University’s Faculty of Medicine in 1991. Bayraktar then trained in urology from 1995 to 1999 at the Bezmialem Vakıf Gureba Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul.
Bayraktar qualified as a urology specialist in 1999, became an associate professor in 2012 and a full professor in 2018, at İstanbul Medipol Üniversitesi [Istanbul Medipol University]. Bayraktar worked in Medipol University’s urology department from 2012 to 2022. In January 2023 Bayraktar moved to the urology clinic of Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Sancaktepe Şehit Prof. Dr. İlhan Varank Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi [University of Health Sciences’ Sancaktepe Şehit Prof. Dr. İlhan Varank Training and Research Hospital].
Bayraktar has written about people with variations in sex characteristics. Bayraktar has a particular interest in parthenogenesis (self-fertilization) as it relates to the birth of Jesus. Bayraktar proposes that Mary had both ovarian and testicular tissue and conceived Jesus by self-fertilization, and cites the Qur’anic account in Surah Maryam (19:20–34).
Anti-trans activism
Since the early 2020s, much of Bayraktar’s writing has focused on transgender medicine. Bayraktar’s articles argue that gender-affirming surgery causes high rates of urogenital complications and loss of reproductive and sexual function.
Bayraktar is author of the 2024 anti-trans book Transseksüellik: Cinsiyetin Değişimi mi İptali mi? [Transsexuality: A Change of Sex or Its Cancellation?]. In 2026, Bayraktar interviewed Swiss ex-trans activist Chris Brönimann.
Bayraktar has been criticized by Türk Tabipleri Birliği [Turkish Medical Association] (TTB).
- In 2023, TTB’s Kadın Hekimlik ve Kadın Sağlığı Kolu [Women Physicians and Women’s Health Branch] criticized parliament’s Constitution Committee for calling a urologist as an expert witness on LGBTİ+ people. It called the remarks made there discriminatory and unscientific. Its title says it rejects using the constitutional amendment as a vehicle for debating sexual identity.
- In 2023, the TTB Merkez Konseyi [Central Council], Uzmanlık Dernekleri Eşgüdüm Kurulu [Specialty Societies Coordination Board] (TTB-UDEK), and Türkiye Psikiyatri Derneği [Psychiatric Association of Türkiye] released a joint statement. Without naming Bayraktar, they criticized the recent claim that certain sexual orientations or gender identities would increase, which matches his committee testimony, calling that claim unscientific and wrong. It says there is no scientific basis for treating any sexual orientation or gender identity as a disease, and that no one’s constitutional rights can be differentiated on those grounds.
- On August 21, 2023, TTB Central Council Secretary-General Vedat Bulut filed a complaint about a news story in which Bayraktar called an Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine study a crime. The Basın Konseyi Yüksek Kurulu [Press Council High Board] (BKYK) ruled on October 18, 2023, decision 2023-32. It unanimously issued a censure (kınama) against Yeni Akit’s managing editor, Halil Kışlacık.
References
“HedonicEscalator” (June 1, 2026). Some Humans Are Both Male and Female, and Can (but Shouldn’t) Have Children with Themselves. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iGsNE8HgfWuLXqiEL/some-humans-are-both-male-and-female-and-can-but-shouldn-t
Cai, T., & Palmieri, A. (2025). Editorial comment on “Urogenital and extra genital mutilation in gender-affirming surgery: are we violating primum non nocere?” Archivio Italiano Di Urologia e Andrologia. https://doi.org/10.4081/aiua.2025.13709
BKYK (October 25, 2023). BKYK karari 2023-32 [BKYK decision 2023-32]. https://basinkonseyi.org.tr/bkyk-karari-2023-32/
Tar, Yıldız (August 18, 2023). Madem mesele çocuklar, sünneti yasaklamaya ne dersiniz? [If the Issue Is Children, How About Banning Circumcision?]. Artı Gerçek https://artigercek.com/makale/madem-mesele-cocuklar-sunneti-yasaklamaya-ne-dersiniz-262041
Yılmaz, Tuğçe (February 3, 2023). Anayasa Değişikliği LGBTİ+’ları nasıl hedef alıyor? [How Does the Constitutional Amendment Target LGBTİ+ People?] Bianet https://bianet.org/yazi/anayasa-degisikligi-lgbti-lari-nasil-hedef-aliyor-273658
AÖ (January 29, 2023). “Kimsenin anayasal hakları cinsel yönelim, cinsiyet kimliği nedeniyle ayrıştırılamaz.” https://bianet.org/haber/kimsenin-anayasal-haklari-cinsel-yonelim-cinsiyet-kimligi-nedeniyle-ayristirilamaz-273468
TY [possibly Tuğçe Yılmaz] (January 26, 2023). “Anayasa değişikliği üzerinden cinsel kimlik tartışmaları yapılmasını kabul etmiyoruz” [“We do not accept debates on sexual identity being conducted through the constitutional amendment.”] Bianet https://bianet.org/haber/anayasa-degisikligi-uzerinden-cinsel-kimlik-tartismalari-yapilmasini-kabul-etmiyoruz-273345
Staff report (January 24, 2023). Anayasa Komisyonu’na psikiyatrist yerine ürolog davet edildi: “Süreci doğru yönetemezsek, eşcinsel ve transeksüel vakalarda patlama olabilir” [A Urologist Rather Than a Psychiatrist Was Invited to the Constitution Committee: “If We Don’t Manage the Process Correctly, There Could Be an Explosion in Homosexual and Transsexual Cases”]. T24 https://t24.com.tr/gundem/anayasa-komisyonu-nda-escinselligi-urolog-anlatti,1087431
(January 25, 2023). Anayasa Komisyonu’nda Ürolog Zeki Bayraktar’dan inciler: “Bunu psikiyatristler bilmezler” [Gems from Urologist Zeki Bayraktar at the Constitution Committee: “Psychiatrists Wouldn’t Know This”]. Kaos GL https://kaosgl.org/haber/anayasa-komisyonu-nda-urolog-zeki-bayraktar-dan-inciler-bunu-psikiyatristler-bilmezler
Anti-trans coverage
Usta, Özlem Konur (August 13, 2023). Meclis hemen harekete geçmeli. LGBT dayatmasının Türkiye’de geldiği nokta: Çocuklar cinsiyet değiştirme masasında [Parliament must act immediately. Where the LGBT imposition has reached in Turkey: Children on the sex-change table]. https://www.yeniakit.com.tr/foto-galeri/meclis-hemen-harekete-gecmeli-lgbt-dayatmasinin-turkiyede-geldigi-nokta-cocuklar-cinsiyet-degistirme-masasinda-58795/
Selected writing by Bayraktar
Bayraktar, Z. (2026). Irreversibility, Evidence, and Age Threshold in Gender-Affirming Surgery: A Surgical Ethics Perspective. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2026.2678257
Bayraktar, Z., & Turan, Ş. (2026). Genital Self-Mutilation and Regret in Gender Dysphoria: A Case Report. The New Journal of Urology, 21(2), 100. https://doi.org/10.33719/nju1860805
Bayraktar, Z., Görmez, A., Coşkun, M., Soylu, N., Karakuş, R., Gürbüz, F., Başgut, B., & Odabaş, Ö. (2026). The female-to-male surge in gender-affirming surgery: a National Study from Türkiye, 2009-2025. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 23(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdag022
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Transseksüel genital cerrahi maskülenizasyon/feminizasyon mu yoksa ürogenital mutilasyon mu? [Is transgender genital surgery masculinization/feminization or urogenital mutilation?]. In S. Albayrak (Ed.), Perineoloji (1st ed., pp. 78–85). Türkiye Klinikleri, ISBN 978-6253955113
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Urogenital and extra genital mutilation in gender-affirming surgery: are we violating primum non nocere? Archivio Italiano Di Urologia e Andrologia. https://doi.org/10.4081/aiua.2025.13324
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Gender dysphoria/incongruence, sexual dysphoria, or sex-gender discordance: which term is more accurate? The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 22(5), 666–667. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdaf047
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Iatrogenic Gender Dysphoria and Harm Cycle in Gender Affirming Care. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 51(4), 364–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2025.2480648
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Association Between Gender-Affirming Surgeries and Mental Health Outcomes. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 54(8), 2769–2774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-025-03215-1
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Letter to the Editor on “Examining gender-specific mental health risks after gender-affirming surgery: a national database study.” The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 22(9), 1708–1709. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdaf162
Bayraktar, Z. (2025). Letter to “Long-Term Outcomes After Gender-Affirming Surgery: 40-Year Follow-up Study.” Annals of Plastic Surgery, 94(5), 623–623. https://doi.org/10.1097/sap.0000000000004235
Bayraktar, Z. (2024). Transseksüel Cerrahide Ürogenital ve Ekstra Genital Sakatlanma: İlgili Literatür Eşliğinde Bir Olgu Sunumu [Urogenital and extra-genital mutilation in transsexual surgery: A case report with review of the relevant literature]. Aile Dergisi [Family Journal], vol. 2, no. 1 (2024), pp. 36–74. https://doi.org/10.70348/aile.2024.2
Bayraktar, Z. (2024). Urogenital Complications that Decrease Quality of Life in Transgender Surgery. The New Journal of Urology, 19(1), 52–60. https://doi.org/10.33719/nju1374837
Bayraktar, Z. (2023). Letter to: Endocrinological Approach to Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria: Experience of a Pediatric Endocrinology Department in a Tertiary Center in Turkey. Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology, 15(4), 449–450. https://doi.org/10.4274/jcrpe.galenos.2023.2023-9-3
Bayraktar, Z. (2017). Potential autofertility in true hermaphrodites. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 31(4), 542–547. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767058.2017.1291619
Books
Bayraktar, Zeki. Transseksüellik: Cinsiyetin Değişimi mi İptali mi? [Transsexuality: A Change of Sex or Its Cancellation?]. Yüzleşme Yayınları [Confrontation Publications], 2024. ISBN 978-6257934602.
Bayraktar, Zeki (2021). Bilimsel Veriler Işığında Sansürsüz Cinsellik [Uncensored Sexuality in the Light of Scientific Data]. Yüzleşme Yayınları [Confrontation Publications], ISBN 978-6257934237.
Bayraktar, Zeki (2020). İnterseks–Hermafrodit ve Eşcinsel: Norm ve Norm Dışı Cinsellik; Farklar, Nedenler, Öneriler [Intersex–Hermaphrodite and Homosexual: Normative and Non-normative Sexuality; Differences, Causes, Recommendations]. Motto Yayınları, ISBN 978-6052173589.
Bayraktar, Zeki (2015). Kur’an ve Sünnet Ama Hangi Sünnet? [The Qur’an and the Sunnah, but Which Sunnah?]. Süleymaniye Vakfı Yayınları, ISBN 9786056296154.
Bayraktar, Zeki (2010). Kur’an’ın Nebevi Tatbikatı Sünnet [The Sunnah as the Prophetic Application of the Qur’an]. Çıra Yayınları, ISBN 9786353177200.
Media
Zeki Bayraktar with Chris Brönimann (July 20, 2026). Gender-Affirming Surgery and Beyond: A Conversation with Chris Brönimann | Prof. Dr. Zeki Bayraktar. [autodubbed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpgnAx3LxnA
İstanbul Okulu (June 11, 2025). Cinsiyet Değiştirmek Mümkün mü? | Prof. Dr. Zeki Bayraktar [What Is Gender Dysphoria, Really? | Prof. Dr. Zeki Bayraktar]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdi7uxQxarI
Resources
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