Trans Woman Who Lost Her Identity Card Cannot Get Treatment

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T.Ü, the 52-year-old woman who has been diagnosed with cancer cannot get treatment because she has no identity card. Her doctor says that T.Ü. needs to be placed in a hospital urgently but she cannot get an identity card issued.

T.Ü., who has been living without leaving her house in İstanbul’s Tarlabaşı district for 15 years, makes a living through the support of her friends and S.T., who has been living with her.

She has been told that she has to go to Samsun where her birth registration is. Lawyer Fırat Söyle says that she can get a new identity card in the place where she lost her identity. S.T., who lives with her, says, “Let her be placed in hospital first, and then we will take care of her ID problem.”

Sent from the hospital to her house

T.Ü., who had been missing her identity card for a while, has been taken to the hospital a couple of times since she noticed her disease in June,  but she hasn’t gotten extensive medical examination as to the reasons why she is in pain and bleeding.

Later, T.Ü. got in contact with a doctor who works in Beşiktaş Municipality through her friends. T.Ü. found out that her disease had gotten worse and she had to undergo surgery, after the examination of  the doctor who works in municipal.

She was taken to the  Okmeydanı Education and Research Hospital with an ambulance in June. T.Ü. was diagnosed with cancer. Medication was prescribed but admission procedures couldn’t be completed because she has no identity card and Social Security İnstitution registration, so she was sent back to her house.

Registrar came to her house

S.T., who has been living with T.Ü. for 15 years, and her friend trans activist Cansel Derya, went to the Beyoğlu Registry Office to issue a new identity card, and they wrote a petition that explained the situation in detail. A Registrar came to T.Ü.’s house in Tarlabaşı and T.Ü. signed the petition with her fingerprint.

The Beyoğlu Registry Office asked the Beyoğlu District Police Department to detect her address and present the result as a report to Registry Office on June 28, 2016.

The police’s judgement was negative

Kasımpaşa Police Station reported to Beyoğlu Registry Office that its judgement was negative due to the fact that “as a result of the investigation that was carried out, no first degree relative has been found at T.Ü.’s address or nearby.”

T.Ü.,  also known as mother Serpil by her friends, holds a residential address in Samsun city. Her father and mother are deceased. She has a sister living in the USA. Therefore it is impossible to make contact with her first degree relatives and issue her identity card in this way.

After the last meeting with the Beyoğlu Registry Office, it was stated that the only way to issue her identity card is by going to Samsun and making an application to the Registry Office with the document that was taken from neighbourhood head person department.

Security department is stalling

Lawyer Fırat Söyle, who bianet has made contact with, said “The Security department is stalling. If there is a residence that this individual lives in, security will send a statement saying that she lives there and an identity card will be given. It is not a problem if the person has no relatives, T.Ü.’s identity number, her mother and father’s names, all are in front of the registrars. It’s unacceptable that she is not being given an identity card despite being a Turkey Republic citizen.

“This person has been living in the same house for 15 years. The registrar in Samsun has nothing to do with this. It’s unacceptable that they are forwarding her to Samsun because her register of birth is in Samsun. It is a “leave now come back tomorrow” mentality. If the individual loses their identity, they can issue a new one in their whereabouts.

“T.Ü. cannot sue, work with her lawyer, or go to the hospital without her identity card. Who will do the job if the registrar won’t? To behave more toleratingly, this person cannot get into a plane without an identity card. Making her take a15 hour bus ride is nothing but a torture. The registry office must solve this problem in İstanbul. This unjust treatment must stop.”

“No one cares”

T.Ü.’s friend Cansel Derya, who bianet has talked with in T.Ü.’s house, has stated:

“In the past, police came to the neighbourhood and gave everyone an identity card. This woman has been living here for 15 years. She won’t commit a fraud obviously, there are witnesses, there are people who have been living with her. We can’t afford medicine, the registry office says that the police department could do the job. They  are sending us from pillar to post but there are victims here. No one cares, she has to be placed in a hospital, she can’t manage to get an identity card.”

“She is bleeding out, she is not able to eat”

S.T., who has been living with T.Ü. for 15 years, said: “She needs to be placed in a hospital. She is bleeding out, she is not able to eat. She has only soup. I am the only one who taking is care of here, I am sitting up with her 24 hours. I talked with the doctor, she has to be taken to the hospital in a couple of days. We have to take her to a hospital without waiting for the identity card to be issued. We will deal with the identity card problem when she taken to the hospital. (SG/BK/UA)