Trans inmate Buse started a “death fast” with the demand to have her gender transition surgery. Derya Özata of KADAV (Women’s Solidarity Foundation)  lists Buse’s demands. Buse has been in prison for 23 years and says “I don’t want to live with this body anymore. It’s not certain how long I will live or whether I will get out of prison”.

Source: “Trans female inmate Buse’s  “death fast” for her access to the right to health!” (“Trans kadın mahpus Buse, sağlık hakkına erişim için “ölüm orucunda”!) , Yıldız Tar, kaosgl.org, June 28, 2018, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=26140.

Buse is one of the trans female inmates at Tekirdağ F Type Prison, for Men she has announced that she has started her “death fast” on June 5, through her lawyers.

Buse says that she has taken this decision due to the fact that her gender transition surgery has not been carried out. She is staying with Diren Coşkun, whose access to the right to health had been denied over the last months. Buse demands that her gender transition surgery is carried out immediately.

Derya Özata of KADAV has been following the violations against Diren Coşkun and Buse in prison and has explained what Buse has been going through, and what she demands to KaosGL.org.

23 years in prison

According to the information Özata gives, Buse was imprisoned at the age of 22. She is now 45 years old. She has been given a life sentence. She will be in prison for 20 more years. She had been in kept in isolation for many years, until Diren Coşkun was sent to Tekirdağ F Type Prison for Men.

The hospital sent a report, but…

Özata says she has been a penpal for Buse and tells [us] the recent developments in the process:

“Buse has been writing petitions to get a gender transition surgery for a long while. She has been struggling to have her surgery. We have written petitions together too. Lawyer Eren Keskin has been following the process too. Finally, Buse has written in a letter that the hospital has given her a report that ‘the gender transition surgery was imperative for her psychological well-being’ “. After this, another petition was written to the Ministry of Justice. However, Buse says that the ministry wrote to back to the prison saying ‘the surgery is imperative but not urgent’. Therefore Buse has started a death fast as of June 5, demanding her transfer to another prison and her gender transition surgery.”

“I want to see my body as that of a woman”

Özata says that Buse has told the lawyer who visited her “I wanted to see my body as that of a woman. I don’t want to live with this body anymore. It’s not certain how long I will live or whether I will get out of prison or not”. Özata also said that Lawyer Eren Keskin will write to the Ministry of Justice again.

Social media campaign for Buse

While legal the procedure for Buse’s gender transition surgery and right to health is being carried out, a social media campaign has been launched. On June 27, #BuseyeSesVer (#ShoutOutForBuse) has become TT [ trending topic] on Turkish Twitter. On June 28, a social media protest took place using the hashtag #buseiçinameliyathemenşimdi (#surgeryforbuserightnow).