IGTA Worldwide Reports
TURKEY
This report is taken from an IGTA article published Transformation magazine
Readers of transformation No 3 will recall the harrowing account of suffering by Travesti and Transsexuals in Istanbul, Turkey following IGTA's second mission there, during which I lived during which I lived with sisters in the flat of group leader Demet Demir.
So far there have been five missions and with the situation changing and esculating. In March 1997 I returned with a small team, a documentary film maker and a woman photographer. I was there to investigate fie bombs in the TV/TS area by police, which had forced most sisters to get their surgery quickly marry their boyfreinds, or just get out. demet had stayed with a few sisters, having bought her flat and having to protect her investment.
Demet had also won for her courage in human rights work, the coveted Filipe Sousa award in the USA, but sadly though now post operative, being known as an activist for the rights of others and minister for TS rights in a liberal politial party, authorities were deliberately obstructive about getting the pink national ID card of a woman, and a passport to go and receive the award.
Despite being totaly ignored both by the Istanbul gay group, and the American based Lesbian and Gay Human Rights group awarding her, IGTA on its own managed to help influence her gaining a visa for USA in an old passport. She got to America, received the award and apparently as kept hidden from all and any TG groups by the gay group and left to come home and be arrested at Istanbul airport.
Again it took much time to find out what had happened but, it was revealed that she saw street kids being beaten up by police when she got off the plane, intervened to protect a little girl and was clubbed herself and arrested. Later she was released without charge.
In March this year Demet came on a mission to London. She was sponsored by Amnesty Internationals Gay and Lesbian section. The purpose of the mission was to report on Istanbul and also to attend a gala night of plays, two of which were about her own life! Under teh collective title of Alchemy all were the work of lesbian playwright Linda Wilkinson, who had adapted some of the work from earlier plays she wrote for a Netherlands theatre festival.
The character of Leila was based on Demet herself, played by a close lookalike, Amita Dhiri, and most o fteh actors were from classical theatre, two were from popular British television stars; Linda Baron who mostly does sit-com work took teh role of teh old woman in Demets area, who insigates most of the pressures against the sisters, and Dominic Taylor, ex of long running soap Eastenders, plyed Sullieman 'The Hose', police chief and torturer / murderer, in the two plays 'Let Eating Dogs ....' and ' Disparate Bodies'
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