Physician expelled from public service, dismissed over ‘public morality’

"Whose morality is public morality?"

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Dr. Larin Kayataş has announced that she has been expelled from public service and dismissed from her profession following a year of systematic mobbing, pressure and disciplinary investigations.

Releasing a written statement on her social media account, Dr. Kayataş has said that a day after her appointment, the hospital personnel filed a complaint about her by applying to the Presidency's Communication Center (CİMER) "because her manners and behavior did not comply with public morality." According to Dr. Kayataş, a month after her appointment, she was suspended from duty for three months only for this reason.

Indicating that the İstanbul Provincial Health Directorate launched a disciplinary investigation against her as well, Dr. Larin Kayataş has stated that after she had been given a reprimand, she was expelled from public service and dismissed yesterday (September 13).

According to the physician, she was summoned to give her defense three times and asked questions such as "Why did you join March 8 [demonstrations]?", "By the way, are you a trans woman?", "What do you aim to do with your tweet of 'Impress the seal for CHP on election day'?"

Larin Kayataş has asked, "Since when has the participation in March 8, stating that you vote for the CHP and being a trans woman been considered an obstacle to being a doctor in this country?"

She has added, "I am told that my social media posts do not comply with the public morality, they are not in line with how a civil servant is supposed to behave and act and I am supposed to be moral as a young woman. In fact, no one can intervene in what I do in my private life! No one can interfere with my private life by using public service as an excuse!"

She has underlined that "another lifestyle cannot be imposed on a person under the name of public morality."

"A section of the society cannot prevent me from working as a doctor because they see me as 'immoral and loose'. I did not make the slightest mistake in practicing my profession," Larin Kayataş has said, noting that "expelling a physician from profession over her private life is unacceptable, especially amid such dire need for them during the pandemic."

Noting that she cannot work in private hospitals as her compulsory duty is not over, she has said that "she has been condemned to social death."

She has further stated, "All these efforts that I made alone for years have gone to waste. The reason for this is being myself, having the lifestyle that I want, rejecting the systematic pressure in the name of public morality and being a woman living her sexuality freely."

While Kayataş has announced that she will take legal action about the issue, several social media users have expressed their support for her. (EMK/SD)