In Solitary Confinement For The Past Five Years And In Prison For Twenty-Four Years Buse Is Deprived Of Her Right To Surgery

Buse Aydın has been in prison for twenty-four years, has been kept in solitary confinement for the past five years and is not allowed to undergo gender affirmation surgery.

Source: “In solitary confinement for the past five years and in prison for twenty-four years Buse is deprived of her right to surgery!”, (Son 5 yılı tecritte 24 yıldır cezaevinde olan trans mahkum Buse’nin ameliyat hakkı elinden alındı!), gorulmustur.org, February 7, 2019, http://gorulmustur.org/icerik/son-5-yili-tecritte-24-yildir-cezaevinde-olan-trans-mahkum-busenin-ameliyat-hakki-elinden

Buse Aydın is a trans prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment. She has been in prison for twenty-four years. Even though she is trans, she is kept prisoner in Tekirdağ Men’s Prison. She has been in solitary confinement for the past five years because she is trans and on the grounds that the prison cannot “ensure her safety.”

Buse has been in solitary confinement for the past five years at Tekirdağ prison deprived of all her social rights and has been in prison for twenty-four years. Buse’s friend, Diren Çoşkun, spoke with us about Buse’s condition and said that she is deprived of all social rights and is not allowed to see the other prisoners for “security” reasons.

The right to surgery not granted

Buse Aydın wrote a petition for her gender affirmation surgery 2,5 years ago to the Ministry of Justice. She received reports from the Training and Research Hospital and from the Forensic Medicine Institute stating, “gender affirmation is necessary for her mental health.” However, even though there are two reports from two different government agencies, the prosecution wrote to the Ministry of Justice questioning whether the surgery is a gender affirmation surgery, ignoring the previous decisions and sending the file back to the Forensic Medicine Institute.

Buse Aydın is not provided with the essential needs that correspond with her gender identity on the grounds that she has a blue [ie male] national identity card.

A second decision from FMI

Upon the Ministry of Justice sending the file back to FMI (Forensic Medicine Institute) and asking whether this surgery was “vital”, even though before FMI had stated that “gender affirmation surgery is necessary for Buse Aydın’s mental health”, they said, “it is not vital.”

“There are no photos of Buse”

Buse’s friend and trans woman Diren Çoşkun, who shared the same cell with Buse Aydın for some time, said that after she ended her own hunger strike, Buse too started a hunger strike for her right to surgery, but that then she had to stop. Buse Aydın has been in prison for twenty-four years and right now she is forced to stay in a single cell in a men’s prison.

Çoşkun said Buse’s only wish is to have her gender affirmation surgery and to be transferred to a women’s prison. She has been in solitary confinement for the past five years and she might be in prison for at least another fifteen years. Attorney Hatice Demir of SPOD, the LGBTI organization said: “You haven’t seen Buse. There are no photos of her in social media. You do not know her. We don’t know her voice or her laughter…We haven’t come face to face with her. This is why it is even harder to have her voice be heard, this is why her voice is not amplified…Buse only wants the court’s decision to be implemented. She wants justice! Please be her voice, please hear her…”

Buse Aydın’s friends have been using the hashtags #BuseninSesiOlalım, #BuseyeSesVer for her voice be heard.

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