Corum

“When she hugs me, I feel warm and fuzzy inside”

We started this interview with the joke that one ought to publish it with the title “Two bisexual women – a love story between Corum and Bandirma.” These are two small provinces in Turkey that no one associates with love between women. As this alternative title says, Gozde and Melahat are two bisexual women. They shared with kaosGL.org[1] their “friendship as fellow travelers,” their fun chats, what they’ve learned from each other, and their love.

Gozde and Melahat

There are two different theories as to how Gozde and Melahat met. “I met her during the 2nd Symposium against Discrimination whereas she met me at the Anti-Homophobia Meeting last year. You see, there is a 5-month gap in between,” explains Gozde. The reason, amnesia.

Melahat does not remember when we first met but I can’t really forget as it was a kind of ill-tempered one. When we introduced ourselves to each other again last year at the Anti-Homophobia Meeting, I cracked a joke about it, which made me feel relaxed.”

Now, let’s hear the story from Melahat: “We spent a good deal of time together during the events of Anti-Homophobia Meeting in May. Gozde and her friends helped me a lot with organizational matters, we were always together. We had a friendly intimacy and it went just like that for a while. And I already had a lover back then. Also Gozde was seeing someone…”

Then interrupts Gozde: “I wasn’t seeing someone. I had a lover, too [laughs].”

(more…)

The Bar Association: ‘We do not assign lawyers to transvestites’

Source: “Trans seks işçisine önce silahlı bıçaklı saldırı, ardından adliyede ayrımcılık!” (“First, armed assault against a trans sex worker, then discrimination at the Court House”). Pembe Hayat, 9 October 2014, http://www.pembehayat.org/haberler.php?id=516

 

Serap, a sex worker who was subjected to an armed assault in Corum, was shot in the leg and stabbed. [Though the assailants were apprehended, the Bar Association refused to assign a lawyer to Serap on the basis that she is a trans individual.]

[Serap, a trans individual, was subjected to armed assault yesterday evening.] Another development regarding this incident occurred at around noon today at the Corum Courthouse. Serap requested that a lawyer be assigned to her from the Corum Bar Association. The clerks at the Bar Association denied her request, saying “We do not assign lawyers to transvestites.” Following the incident, our foundation [Pembe Hayat] contacted a lawyer operating out of Corum but the lawyer informed us that they would not be able to pursue the case. Serap, frustrated by the discrimination she experienced, said that she will take the necessary steps against those who are responsible.

Pembe Hayat is following this case closely and will continue to report on the developments.

Armed assault against trans sex worker

Source: “Trans seks işçisine önce silahlı bıçaklı saldırı, ardından adliyede ayrımcılık!” (“First, armed assault against a trans sex worker, then discrimination at the Court House”). Pembe Hayat, 9 October 2014, http://www.pembehayat.org/haberler.php?id=516

 

Serap, a sex worker who was subjected to an armed assault in Corum, was shot in the leg and stabbed. The police apprehended three suspects in light of Serap’s witness statement. She was able to get away from the assailants and reached the Corum State Hospital.

The event occurred yesterday evening in a wooded area outside the city. Serap, who recounted her experiences to a reporter from Pembe Hayat, said that she knew the assailants, that she was first subjected to verbal abuse from one of the assailants for not answering her phone, and that the same person invited her to a meeting. She added that she was taken to Melikgazi Hill and then the assailants started attacking her, first with knives and then kicking her head, then they shot her in the leg. Serap recounted that she was able to benefit from a moment of commotion and escape, saying that her witness statement to the police contained these very facts. Serap was released from the hospital after being treated for her wounds. Three people were apprehended by the police after they found both Serap’s blood and the casing of the bullet that had hit Serap in the leg inside the suspects’ car.

[The Bar Association later refused to assign Serap a lawyer on the basis that she is a trans individual.]