Houses on Bayram Street sealed: 'We are not leaving'

The Bayram Street 12 Platform, protesting the sealing of the building located at number 12 on Bayram Street in İstanbul's Beyoğlu district, held a press conference at the İstanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD).

Beyza, speaking on behalf of the platform, stated the following:

Today, as transgender women who are residents of Apartment No. 12 on Bayram Street, we are here together with our friends who stand in solidarity with us. Today, we are here to defend our lives and rights against those who besiege and ignore us.

Bayram Street has been a shelter and a place of memory where transgender women have lived together for decades. It is our history. Bayram Street is one of our breathing spaces, an example of the culture of living together that we have fostered for years in İstanbul.

For years, our street has faced the threat of being sealed twice a year. Transgender women living on Bayram Street have been left homeless with the sealing implemented today. The streets have been our homes, the tables where we have fed ourselves, the fortresses where we have grown solidarity and found refuge, all built through our labor as transgender individuals. We want to remind everyone that our struggle is not limited to today alone and that each time we are forced to fight, we emerge stronger. We declare from here that you cannot steal the solidarity networks we have built, the streets we have gained, or the territories we have reclaimed.     

“The violence perpetrated by men, the state and the police”

We are exposing to the public the violence perpetrated by men, the state, and the police that make life difficult for transgender women living on Bayram Street.

Just like in many other places such as Esat-Eryaman, Ülker Street, Avcılar Meis Complex, and İzmir Bornova Street, Bayram Street is also under threat from capitalists, profiteers, and transphobic/women-hostile policies. We want to make it clear to everyone that we will not remain silent in the face of discrimination and rights violations we experience!

Our homes are being sealed, and the streets we live on are being besieged by the police. However, every place where we cannot find shelter opens another door for us to struggle.

While transgender individuals who are made to believe they have no right to live and who are ostracized in this geography, inevitably, transgender suicides are political. The deaths of Hande, Mısra, Nefes, Murat, Günay, Zirve, Berrak, İpek, Deniz, Ecem, Dilan, and many others are massacres. Those who spread transphobia in society, especially the state, with their rhetoric, are the perpetrators of these massacres.

We saw with the Esat-Eryaman case in Ankara that justice, when it comes to transgender women, is delayed for years. We want everyone to know that we will not give up our right to shelter, not only as homeless women but also as women resisting male, state, and police violence.

“Freedom begins on the streets”

We rebel against the system that leaves us homeless on the streets, abandons us to death. Even if our homes are sealed, even if we are abandoned to death on the streets, we are here, we will not give up, we will continue our struggle for existence. We remind you that freedom begins on the streets! Despite being pushed away from all living spaces and deprived, we shout with every breath: Enough is enough! The state must meet our demand for safe and equal living conditions! You must ensure our lives and rights.

Our platform demands an end to unlawful sealing practices, the guarantee of housing rights for transgender women, collective resistance against transphobic and women-hostile policies, and accountability for the perpetrators of the violations we experience.

We do not give up on our lives, our rights, our streets, or our homes! Even if you break down our doors with sledgehammers as you used to, we will continue to live! We resisted against "Hortum Süleyman" [former chief of police], and we will resist against his grandchildren too! Bayram Street is our pride!

"Where are we going to go?"

Following the statement, resident Deniz spoke:

"I have been tortured on these streets. I have constantly been dragged from one place to another. I have been displaced. What are we going to do now?"

Another resident of the building, Beyza, added:

"These homes are locked. What are we going to do this evening? Where are we going to go? Where will we continue our lives? Are we going to stay on the streets for three months? The sealing reasons are obscene scenes, leaning out of the window... The right to shelter of the people here is being violated. This street is a significant memory center for us. We established the Bayram Street 12 Platform. They closed it for only three months, but we will be here every day. We will feed our animals living with us. We will not abandon these streets."

Shops also sealed

Following the statements, the group moved to Bayram Street. Police were stationed on both sides of the street. Trans sex workers protested against the attempted sealing of the buildings, saying "We have nowhere to go."

Three buildings and some shops on the street were sealed. After the sealing process, activists and transgender individuals protested the decision with applause.

(EMK/PE)