Turkey: Transexuals and transvestites under police pressure

Police are putting increasing pressure on transsexuals and transvestites, a prominent human rights organization complained at a recent press meeting, daily Taraf reported yesterday.

"The police are only ignoring our complaints and keep pressuring us. They are arresting transsexuals not based on the law but however they want," said one member of the Women's Door Association.

The meeting also included the Lambda Istanbul Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Transsexual, or LGBTT, Solidarity Association, which has been threatened with closure by the courts in recent months.

Speakers at the meeting said the police were charging transvestites and transsexuals fines based on a law called the “misdemeanor law.”

“We have complained to the police about what is happening. But the pressures have only increased. During the past month, they started checking our ID when walking down the street and even putting us in their cars, driving far out of the city and leaving us in abandoned places," said sociologist Eylem Çağdaş. "There are police cars with black windows driving around our houses."

The statement by the association was also supported by other NGOs, such as the Red Umbrella Sex Workers' Network and Global Action Group.

*source (11 September 2008 - Turkish Press Scanner)

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