Police detained 18 trans women in İstanbul: ‘Corona measure’

"Police, keep your hands off my body"

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Police officers detained 18 transgender women in Bayram Street in Beyoğlu, İstanbul at night (November 9). Taken into custody for allegedly "mediating and providing place for prostitution," the women were then taken to the Taksim Police Station in Beyoğlu district.

As reported by Yıldız Tar from the Kaos GL LGBTI+ Association, the police referred to "corona measures" as the reason for the detention. However, the police report prepared on the scene of the incident did not refer to any corona measures. The report said that "the street had been under surveillance for weeks and there had been tip-offs."

Taken into custody at night, the women have been released after giving their statements at the police station.

'We don't know what will happen'

Beyrut, one of the 18 detained women, has spoken to KaosGL.org about what happened at the night of their detention. Indicating that "they were detained in groups at night," Beyrut has briefly said the following:

"They told us that we were being detained 'due to corona measures'. We were 18 girls from 3 different buildings. They took all of us into custody. We were in the same room for almost 2 hours. Then, after the lawyer came, they sent us to different rooms. We were in detention till morning.

"There was already pressure through neighborhood guards. Apart from their routine patrols, they wait at the same spot for hours, beat the ones they encounter, which affects us as well. We don't know what will happen."

'It is against human rights'

Lawyer Hatice Demir, the Law Field Coordinator of the Social Policies, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation Studies Association (SPoD), accompanied the trans women all through their depositions.

Demir has noted that what was done to the women was a violation of human rights. Lawyer Demir has briefly said the following:

"Bayram Street is a street where trans women mostly live and solidarize. The raid carried out during the pandemic and the ensuing waiting at the police station for hours is against human rights.

"While the number of cases has reached 2 thousand, it is against human rights that trans women were detained as if raiding their homes and they were kept waiting in small rooms for hours all through the night.

"Police could have taken their statements in daytime. They did not depose as suspects anyway, they were only consulted.

"If you will consult people who are not suspects, do you do this by detaining them from their homes in groups at night? Considering that their statements could have been taken in daytime, carrying out house raids at night means criminalizing trans women and the street." (EMK/SD)