Trans women fined over March 8 demonstration: ‘I will join it again’

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The İstanbul March 8 Platform organized a protest demonstration at Beşiktaş pier in İstanbul's Kadıköy district on March 6 last year. Of the LGBTI+ activists detained afterwards, five Kurdish trans women have been fined 3,500 lira as per the Law no. 1593 on Public Health.

On March 6, 2021, police attacked the Trans+ cortege formed upon the call of the Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) LGBTI+ Assembly and they did not allow trans+s to enter the protest site with their banners and flags. Following the LGBTI+ activist trans women after the demonstration, police officers took them into custody afterwards.

Yusuf A. from the November 20 Platform was a part of the Trans+ cortege. A. has spoken to bianet about March 6 demonstration:

What happened on March 6?

"We had made a call a week before. We were going to go to the site on March 6. We were seven trans+ and the police did not let our banners in the site. We said that we would go there with our banners. They attacked us; they held our friend Yıldız by her hair and made her fall.

Several fellow women from the site solidarized with us; we could enter the site, but they took away our banners. And we distributed 30-40 flags that we had hid in our trousers to everyone on the site to say, 'Here, you see, we are all together.'

"Then, right before the grand women's meeting ended, Yıldız wanted to take the floor and expose the police. She began her speech, said that they inflicted violence on us while we were entering the site. After Yıldız left the floor, we heard that the police were waiting to detain us.

"I went to the Boğaziçi [University] students, I offered them to leave together. Other feminist friends came, too. We left the site all together, arm in arm. We had Yıldız and our four trans friends get in a taxi. For 30-40 minutes, the police chased after it. They made it stop in Moda.

"Since it was very crowded, they waited for some time. As the two friends inside the taxi have claustrophobia, they felt really bad. In the meantime, four more people were detained, because we resisted... They detained my friend by dragging on the ground. It is visibly seen in the videos.

'Isolation made us sad above all else'

"There remained Havin and I. There was someone in the apartment across the street. That person invited us and opened their house to us. We waited there for 2-3 hours as the police were waiting for us in front of the apartment. A couple of MPs came from the HDP [Peoples' Democratic Party]. Havin and I could get out of this house thanks to [HDP MP] Züleyha Gülüm.

"In the evening, while we were trying to hear from our friends, we were attacked on social media. Some people were accusing us based on misinformation. They were saying that our detained friends were perpetrators of violence. This isolation made us sad above all else. On the one hand, we were trying to stay strong; on the other hand, we knew that the police could take us any moment. It was a very horrible day.

"A few days ago, the news about the fine imposed on Kurdish trans women who came to the March 6 Women's Meeting was heard. We will talk to lawyers. We will exercise our right to lodge an appeal."

'We will come this year, too'

Will you join this year, too?

"I will come this year, too. We will come again. I had to move from İstanbul to İzmir, but I will come for March 8. I will come for both March 6 and 8.

Can you talk a little bit about the November 20 Platform?

"The November 20 Platform was a platform which was originally established in İzmir. When my friend who founded it went to İstanbul, there was a suspense. When I and some other political queers from İstanbul came to İzmir, we thought we should get things going again. We wanted to take action in the face of the recently increasing attacks in İzmir.

"We have come together as old friends and new friends, setting up such a platform. In the upcoming periods, we will step up our protests. We will try to supply sexual health products for our friends working here." (EÖ/EMK/SD)