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Transgender sex workers, who work in the district of İskitler in the capital city of Ankara, have been battered and detained by the police. While some transgender women have been brought to Gölbaşı, some of them have been left in remote, desolate areas of Polatlı and Kayaş.
As stated by the Pembe Hayat (Pink Life) LGBTT association, on October 15, a group of transgender women, who work as sex workers in İskitler, were taken to police cars by security forces. The women were then brought to remote, desolate areas of Gölbaşı, Polatlı and Kayaş and left there.
Speaking to the Pembe Hayat about the incident, one of the women has said that she was forced to get in a police car by the police and taken to Gölbaşı. The woman has also added that she was battered and subjected to insults and violence on her way to the district.
Another woman who also works in İskitler has stated that police officers have been threatening the sex workers in the district. Pembe Hayat has reported that the police stopped the cars of transgender women and threw pepper gas inside their cars by saying, "If you come here again, we will beat you." It has also been reported that the police damaged the cars of the trans women.
The transgender women, who have been threatened not to work in the district, have been preparing to take legal action against the officers.
As it has also been shared by Pembe Hayat, several news of discrimination and violence against transgender women have been reported from Ankara. (ÇT/SD)