Kemal Ördek

LGBTI Activist Kemal Ordek’s Attacker Convicted

A landmark decision has been issued about the three aggressors who attacked Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association President Kemal Ördek. One of the attackers was sent to prison following the hearing after being charged with qualified sexual assault. 

Source: Çiçek Tahaoğlu, “LGBTİ Aktivistine Cinsel Saldırı Davasında Saldırgan Tutuklandı”, Bianet, 17 November 2016, http://bianet.org/bianet/lgbti/180825-lgbti-aktivistine-cinsel-saldiri-davasinda-saldirgan-tutuklandi

Two people who attacked Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association President and LGBTI activist Kemal Ördek have been sentenced to up to 5 years in prison and a judicial fine on charges of robbery, threat and insult. The third attacker has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for qualified sexual assault in addition to the aforementioned crimes and sent to prison.

Evaluating the decision to bianet, attorney Deniz Aksoy said “Because the victim’s identity as a sex worker was taken as a basis, this penalty imposed on the ground of sexual assault will be seen as a precedent.”

What had happened?

LGBTI activist Kemal Ördek was sexually assaulted in their house in Ankara on 5 July 2015. The police allegedly said  “Enough with this Tribe of Lot” and the suspects said “Officer, we’re manly men. You understand us, don’t you? Don’t listen to what this faggot has to say.”

Following the assault Nils Muiznieks, the European Council Human Rights Commissioner made a written statement regarding the incident and called on the authorities to explicitly declare that they would not tolerate hate speech and crimes against LGBTI persons.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Mahmut Tanal, CHP Malatya MP Veli Ağbaba and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Istanbul MP Garo Paylan had brought the issue to the Parliament and asked the Minister for Interior Affairs Sebahattin Öztürk about the assault and what had happened afterwards.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville made a statement regarding the assault of Ördek, reminding  Turkey the commitment it has made for LGBTI persons during the Universal Periodic Review and called on the authorities to take measures for the fight against homophobic, transphobic violence and discrimination.

The Hande Kader murder: No one hears our voice

The struggle to stay alive in Turkey where trans individuals are pushed to the city’s peripheries as well as the struggle to prove their existence finds life in a sentence that is repeated, emphasized, written at every demonstration: “Don’t be silent, shout, trans exist.”

Source: Rengin Arslan, “Hande Kader cinayeti: Kimse sesimizi duymuyor”, BBC Türkçe, 20 August 2016, http://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-37141548

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“Hande was one of the nicest people in the world. She was very calm normally but also hyperactive. She always went to the LGBTI marches. She pursued a cause that she felt right until the end.”

This is how flat mate Davut Dengiler describes the 23 year old trans woman Hande Kader whose body was found in a forest in Istanbul last week. She was last seen entering a client’s car one night. Davut Dengiler, long hopeful to find Hande alive, ended up finding her in the morgue for unidentified persons in Yenibosna.

“I was about to leave the morgue. I felt a sense of lightness for not having found her there. At the last minute, a doctor there said, ‘there’s also a burned body, look at that as well.’ I did. I told them identifying features. They then looked at the computer, at the report. The doctor put his hand on my back and gave his condolences. I lost myself,” he says of that day.

He then explains Hande’s responses to other deaths, to trans deaths:

“She would go crazy when trans individuals were killed. She’d be so sad. She’d be so courageous the moment she left the house. She’d also be very restless sometimes. She had been stabbed and beaten before. This doesn’t happen only to Hande, it happens to all of them.”

‘The highest number of trans murders in Europe take place in Turkey’

According to Trans Europe’s data, the highest number of trans murders in Europe take place in Turkey. Globally, Brazil is the least safe country for trans individuals.

But “there is no safe country for trans people” as the institution’s 2016 report states.

Hande was someone who tried to call attention to trans murders in Turkey and the injustices she reacted against. She was among those who were in the front rows of demonstrations.  

But perhaps it is the images of Hande Kader that has been shared innumerable times on social media that best explain the trans woman who is still waiting to be buried due to identification, autopsy, and DNA testing processes. In 2015, police had banned Pride March organized every year by LGBTI in Taksim and tried to disperse the crowds using pressurized water, rubber bullets, and pepper spray. Despite it all, Hande Kader had not “dispersed” and stood against the police with stubbornness.

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At some point in a naive anger, she reproached the journalists who were recording the events. She said, “You take pictures but you do not publish them, no one is hearing our voices.”

Hande Kader and other trans individuals’ unheard voices came this time with the news of her death. In a way that no one wants to think or imagine: by being burned.

Her life, which she tried to earn through sex work, was always in danger. Just like all the other trans individuals who are forced to this, she worked on the street. Just like the others, she sought a way out but could not find it. Her close friend Funda says, “she did not like this work,” and adds, “but who would like it anyway.”

“There are very few trans individuals who die of natural causes”

The trans individuals I spoke to have two commonalities. One is that they are heartbroken by society with the reminder that people went out on the streets in millions after the murder of Özgecan Aslan, who was similarly burned and killed. The second is that nearly all of them have a story on how they “escaped death.”

Kemal Ördek is one of them. Ördek answers my questions and says they were “lucky” to survive an attack in their home.  

“There are very few trans individuals who die of natural causes. Nearly none. There are very few trans individuals in Turkey who have reached the age of 50 or 60. When you are pushed to sex work, it’s not possible for people to reach old age. They are killed. I don’t know how I survived. That’s the sad part,” Ördek says.

Ördek completed a degree in international studies in Bilkent University with a scholarship after ranking at the top in the exams and is pursuing graduate studies in sociology in Middle East Technical University. Ördek earns their living mostly through sex work.

“Do they have to be sex workers?”

Kemal Ördek is also the president of Red Umbrella, an association that defends the rights of trans sex workers. I ask them one of the questions that society often asks trans individuals: Do they have to be sex workers?

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Ördek says, “We are viewed not as people who can integrate into society but as the dirt of society. What grabs our attention most when we are walking on the street are the looks that see us as sexual objects. That the people who diss us do so through words that suggest they want to be with us. It doesn’t matter if it’s a woman or a man. We are humans who are sexual objects.”

In a time when women who make up half the world combat against inequality and discrimination in the workplace, it appears that trans individuals finding employment in the fields of their education is impossible.

“A never-ending mourning”

Ördek describes their feelings as “a never-ending mourning” when talking about the insecure, vulnerable, and fragile conditions trans individuals face and says,”

“When I first became an activist, I would not be able to sleep thinking about the kind of news I’d get in the middle of the night. Even now, my phone is at the highest ringtone when I sleep at night. I wait for news, someone will be stabbed, someone beaten and I’ll get called and I’ll have to go there immediately. This is a never-ending mourning and state of trauma.”

The identity reassignment process for trans individuals in Turkey is a long and painful one and many don’t dare to because of this. Because of this, trans women can’t change the [gendered] color of their IDs and can’t work in brothels where they may have more security.

Sinem Hun, a lawyer who works closely on trans identity reassignment cases, interprets the relevant gender reassignment article in Turkey’s Civil Law as “the whole of the processes that embody too many rights violations.”

“24 states in Europe require by law that trans people undergo sterilization”

Hun says the state “wants to see” that both trans men and trans women have to received surgeries for their genitalia to establish that the gender reassignment process has been done physically. At the same time, she says sterilization is mandatory.

Hun gives the example of Argentina where gender reassignment is based on the person’s statement and says they have applied individually to the Constitutional Court for the cancellation of the article that forces surgery. She hopes the article could be annulled.

“There are trans individuals who cannot change their identity for 5-6 years,” says Hun and emphasizes that there are very few competent microsurgery doctors for these surgeries and that these surgeries in Turkey are expensive and bring forth a difficult process.

Sterilization is an issue that European countries have yet to agree on. According to Trans Europe’s Trans Rights Europe Index, there are 24 countries that require sterilization for gender reassignment. Among them are Turkey, Russia, France, and Switzerland.

Hungary and Albania do not have legal gender recognition

Sterilization is not mandatory in 15 countries, including Sweden, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain.

Gender reassignment is not considered legal in Hungary, Cyprus, Moldova, and Albania, according to the Europe Index.

The struggle to stay alive in Turkey where trans individuals are pushed to the city’s peripheries as well as the struggle to prove their existence finds life in a sentence that is repeated, emphasized, written at every demonstration: “Don’t be silent, shout, trans exist.”

The struggle for society to accept their existence and the struggle to stay alive is together. Legal processes and democratic wins may determine when they’ll be equal citizens in Turkey and other countries but trans, LGBTI individuals, and their allies hope that Hande Kader will be a turning point in trans murders.

 

Lesbian and Bisexual Feminists: We do not hide, We are not ashamed

On 15 July, Lesbian and Bisexual Feminists gathered to protest the police attack on the Pride March, said “Neither AKP nor men will be able to prevent our love between women or our going out to the streets to shout for our freedom.”

Source: “Lezbiyen Biseksüel Feministler: Saklanmıyoruz, Utanmıyoruz”, (“Lesbian and Bisexual Feminists: We do not hide, We are not ashamed”), bianet, 15 July 2015, http://bianet.org/bianet/lgbti/166052-lezbiyen-biseksuel-feministler-saklanmiyoruz-utanmiyoruz utm_content=buffer32896&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Lesbian and Bisexual Feminists were gathered on 15 July in front of the Kadıköy Pier to protest the police attack on the Pride Parade.

Women pointed out that hate speech against LGBTIs are being disseminated with religious excuses and stated that this behavior imprisons women in the male dominated family, love and sexuality.

At the press release read before the march from the Pier to the Bull Statue, they said that the reason for the attack LGBTI activist Kemal Ördek was exposed to is the AKP government which targets LGBTIs.

The following statements appear in the press release:

“We have something feminist to say to the ones who want to narrow our lives, force women to stay in their houses and LGBTIs in ghettos by using ideas of public moral and decency!”

“We refuse to be imprisoned in male dominated sexuality. Neither the AKP government who prevented the Pride Parade using Ramadan as an excuse nor men will be able to prevent our love between women or our going out to the streets and shouting for our freedom.”

“We will be in Taksim next year for the Pride Parade, as [it] has been for 13 years. We will win, love will win.”

Rape and Police Violence Carried to Parliament with Tanal’s Parliamentary Question

Mahmut Tanal, the Republican People’s Party’s member of parliament from Istanbul, submits question to Minister of Interior Sebahattin Öztürk about the experiences of trans activist Kemal Ördek.

Source: Kaos GL, “Tecavüz ve polis şiddeti Meclis’e taşındı” (“Rape and Police Violence Carried to Parliament”), kaosgl.org, 11 July 2015, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=19823

Following the rape in their home and exposure to police violence of trans activist and Red Umbrella Association member Kemal Ördek, a parliamentary question was submitted by Mahmut Tanal.

The question encompassed the involved police officers’ covering up of the event and their use of offensive language, as well as the release of the people who allegedly committed the crime and their continued threats to Kemal Ördek over the phone. The following questions were posed to the Minister of Interior:

  • Are the allegations that on the night of these events, when Kemal Ördek asked for help from the police, they were not taken seriously and were reprimanded by the police officers, despite being the victim, true?
  • What was the legal justification for Kemal Ördek being brought to the police station alongside the suspects in the same car? Has any inquiry about the police officers who did this been started?
  • Are the allegations that upon entering the police station one of the police officers said, “Enough of this Tribe of Lot!”, that the other police officers mocked the victim for their gender identity, that the police officer who took the victim’s statement tried to make the victim sign a record of statement, different from their own and that this police officer interfered with the victim’s statement-giving true?
  • Has an inquiry regarding these police officers and other public officials been started by the Ministry?
  • What administrative sanctions will be taken towards these officials?

Kemal Ördek’s Interview with Bianet: “No place is heaven for Trans people, hell is everywhere for sex workers”

Kemal Ördek: “1 in every 2 sex worker has experienced police violence. 50% of all perpetrators are police officers. [Apart from the police,] the perpetrator profile includes clients, organized crime groups, family members, neighbors, boyfriends, and so on. Access to justice is very limited, which points out to the need to execute legal support projects. Only 25% of sex workers who were targeted with physical violence appealed to the legal processes; only 10% of this 25% [i.e. 2.5% of all participants] believe that the perpetrators received the penalties they should have received. This is a horrible situation; access to the justice mechanisms is almost nonexistent.”

Kemal Ördek

Kemal Ördek

Source: Dilara Şenkaya, “Translara Hiçbir Yer Cennet Değil, Seks İşçilerine Her Yer Cehennem” (“No place is heaven for Trans people, hell is everywhere for sex workers”), Bianet, 4 July 2015, http://bianet.org/biamag/diger/165748-translara-hicbir-yer-cennet-degil-seks-iscilerine-her-yer-cehennem

Kemal Ördek has been the chair of the Board Of Directors at the Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association since 2013 and is a seasoned LGBTI rights activist. They tells that Red Umbrella was founded because, while everyone debated sex workers, sex workers themselves were excluded from these debates.

Both the founders and the Board Of Directors of Red Umbrella consist of sex workers, which conducts studies on challenges that men and women sex workers experience, their demands, and the violence directed at them. They bring together sex workers and organize trainings in various provinces of Turkey. They organize similar trainings for lawyers as well, informing them of the issues at hand.

Ördek reports that the projects that are born of home visits and interviews produced positive results and that awareness among the sex workers they were able reach out to has increased significantly. Ördek continues: “We also conduct studies jointly with universities; for instance, last year, sex work studies was a mandatory course at Ankara University Department of Law graduate program.”

Another primary objective of the Association is to change the sex work legislation.

We met with Kemal Ördek when they arrived at Istanbul for Pride Week and discussed sex workers’ rights struggle.

Ördek explains that, as long as it does not include violence, threat, or coercion, sex work needs to be legalized, which would additionally lead to a decrease in sexually transmitted infections since sex workers would be able to freely access healthcare without being discriminated against: “Everything starts at legal recognition and guarantees. The current atmosphere of dismissiveness needs to be addressed; dismissiveness also means precarity.”

“What were the results of the ‘Project for the Mapping of Violence against and Legal Support for Trans Sex Workers’?”

We collected data on the physical, sexual, psychological, and financial violence that sex workers experience. Additionally, we have identified various restrictions, obligations, barriers, and needs in terms of access to justice, towards the solution of which we have developed policy proposals. Violence was widespread in all regions. For instance, in terms of physical violence, the rate of sex workers who experienced one or more types of violence was 75%. The sexual violence rate was 55%; psychological rate, about 68%. These are excessive rates. What is more, these are only the reported cases; the real prevalence might be much higher.

1 in every 2 sex worker has experienced police violence. 50% of all perpetrators are police officers. [Apart from the police,] the perpetrator profile includes clients, organized crime groups, family members, neighbors, boyfriends, and so on. Access to justice is very limited, which points out to the need to execute legal support projects. Only 25% of sex workers who were targeted with physical violence appealed to the legal processes; only 10% of this 25% [i.e. 2.5% of all participants] believe that the perpetrators received the penalties they should have received. This is a horrible situation; access to the justice mechanisms is almost nonexistent.

In comparison with examples worldwide, what are the differences and deficiencies in terms of social visibility and laws?

There is no single example. There is a multiplicity of examples even within Europe. Serious problems are observed in Serbia as well as in Netherlands and England… In fact, violence is widespread worldwide, whether in the east or the west. And no place is a heaven for trans people either. Both observed and reported rates of violence as well as the visibility of the cases may be decreasing with increasing levels of education, however, this does not mean that violence is non-existent. Violence shifts to other areas, for instance the rate of financial violence increases. I had said that, in terms of sex work, no place is a heaven for trans people. Yet for sex workers, hell is everywhere. Worldwide, only New Zealand and Australia’s South Wales practices a legal model where sex work is decriminalized. It has either been criminalized or somehow punishable everywhere else in the world. That is why it is not productive to study countries comparatively; one needs to focus on each country separately.

What are the social and legal demands and expectations of sex workers in Turkey?

Sex work needs to be decriminalized. As long as they do not include violence, threat or coercion, all activities in this area need to be decriminalized. Arguments such as “mediators will exploit, some new criminal networks will emerge” are nothing but excuses. The current Turkish Criminal Code is of this nature and still is a total failure. To the contrary, it targets sex workers.

Our demand is the punishment of acts that involve keeping someone within this industry using coercion, threat, blackmail or violence because these already are rights violations. Anything beyond these are covered by individual consent. Prostitution [“fuhuş”] is perceived as a crime in and of itself. As the state legitimizes this perception by inscribing it as law [and policy], the perception of the society at large also falls in line. The state is obligated to reorganize the law in a way that will eradicate this perception from the public sphere and to produce social programs towards that objective.

How do the problems that men sex workers experience from those that women sex workers experience?

Because men sex workers are not visible, their problems remain invisible. As the problems remain invisible, the rights violations too become excluded from the public view. At that point, men sex workers cease to have opportunities to request justice. Because documentation and reporting are impossible, strategies for legal remedies cannot be developed. Apart from their existing invisibility, they also do not know how to become visible. They do not know that there exists non-governmental organizations that are attentive to them. As such, projects towards increasing men sex workers’ awareness towards the issue cannot be developed. This invisibility exists for women sex workers as well. Any visibility that comes to existence in this field stands on and develops through misinformation. Police reports, studies, the women whose names are mentioned, they are all dismissed and ignored in news production that pays no attention to sensitivities.

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What are the projects planned by the Red Umbrella?

First, we have training programs that strengthen individuals’ capacity to access the justice system. Second, we have projects aimed at raising awareness among bosses and parliamentarians on the high-handed and illegal practices by the police and the governors that sex workers endure. Furthermore, sex workers rights-based physical improvement of brothels will be among our advocacy efforts.

We continue to work with the United Nations Population Fund on the fields of sexual and reproductive health. In addition, in September, we will be organizing a high level meeting at the UN that will gather together the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Turkish National Police, academics, representatives from non-governmental organizations. This meeting will be the venue to discuss the relationship between HIV/AIDS and sex work towards producing proposals. In December, we will be carrying out a project in Ankara where authorities from the Directorate of Public Health and chairs of the commission against prostitution [“fuhuşla mücadele komisyonu”] will be invited.

Lastly, would you like to share your comments about the police assault against the 13th Istanbul Pride Parade?

They did not allow our Pride Parade, the sole goal of which is to announce that we are not ashamed of being LGBTIs, that we are subjected to rights violations, and that we have certain demands for rights. Not only did they not allow that but they assaulted us horribly using TOMAs [armored water-cannons], plastic bullets, and tear gas. We were [physically] paralyzed during the intense attack. The police assaulted and mistreated many LGBTIs. I was personally insulted by the police. We had no guns, no bombs. Only our rainbow flags and our slogans for equality. Nevertheless, we witnessed a showcase of intolerance. What this implies is that the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party] is terribly afraid of our voice, which is becoming louder and louder with each passing day. The government is spooked by the increasing numbers of members of parliament, municipalities, celebrities, and various social classes who support us. They cited the month of Ramadan and talked about religion and ethics, but what they painted with their actions is a kind of worldview that is void of kindness, compassion, and understanding, which are the very principles of the religion they claim to practice. They disallowed our walk, which did not generate a single problem for 13 years, and violated those who disclaimed “this is our right.” The state terrorism had LGBTIs at its target this time around. I think a new era is beginning. In this era, I believe that LGBTI organizations will experience increased amounts of harsh [i.e. illegal/violent -Trans.] state practices. Precisely because of that, everyone ought to be side by side with LGBTIs.

LGBTI Activist Attacked in Their Home: “They’ll release us anyway: You’ll have to deal with the consequences” 

One of the founders of the Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association (Kırmızı Şemsiye), Kemal Ördek, was raped in their home. The police commented, “Enough with this Tribe of Lot.” The assailants who said, “Officer, we’re manly men. You understand us, don’t you?” were released. You can also read Kemal’s letter. 

Source: Çiçek Tahaoğlu. “LGBTİ Aktivistine Evinde Saldırı: Nasılsa Serbest Kalırız, Sen Düşün” (“LGBTI Activist Attacked in Their Home: “They’ll release us anyway: You’ll have to deal with the consequences”), Bianet, 8 July 2015, http://m.bianet.org/bianet/lgbti/165878-lgbti-aktivistine-evinde-saldiri-nasilsa-serbest-kaliriz-sen-dusun

Founder and chairperson of the Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association Kemal Ördek was robbed and raped in their home in Ankara. A police officer at the police station reacted by saying “Enough with this tribe of Lot.” [1]

It has been three days since the attack. At the police station the assailants threatened Ördek by saying, “We know where you live now. They’ll release us anyway and you’ll have to deal with the consequences.” The assailants are free and they continue to harass Ördek on their cell phone.

Kemal Ördek’s attorney told Bianet that the prosecutor who is responsible for the police station in question released the assailants without a trial. At the moment, the case is in the hands of the public prosecutor. Four attorneys continue efforts to collect evidence.

They took Ördek to an ATM to withdraw money

Kemal Ördek is an activist who has been working for LGBTI and sex workers’ rights for years. Two men appeared at their door on Sunday night. One of them raped Ördek and they confiscated Ördek’s cell phone. Then, they called a relative and gave them Ördek’s address.

The two men demanded money from Ördek. When they found out that they did not have any cash at home, they took Ördek to an ATM machine. Ördek spotted a police car near the ATM, ran to the police and described what had just happened.

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“He stabbed, washed his hands and got on with his life”

Source: Mehmet Bilber, “Bıçakladı, elini yıkadı ve hayata karıştı. Trans İdil’e bunu yapan aramızda,” (“He stabbed, washed his hands and got on with his life. The person who did this to trans İdil is among us.”) Radikal, 03 December 2013, http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/bicakladi_elini_yikadi_ve_hayata_karisti_trans_idile_bunu_yapan_aramizda-1164136

He stabbed, washed his hands and got on with his life. The person who did this to trans İdil is among us.

Violence against LGBTT people does not ease down. The latest victim of an act of violence is 26 year old İdil. She survived a knife attack by chance. İdil was in the hospital for 10 days and identified the perpetrator through city surveillance cameras but he still has not be found. Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association’s lawyer Ahmet Toköz stated that there has been no investigation or a capture operation. The President of the Red Umbrella Association of Sexual Health and Human Rights  Kemal Ördek said that as of November there have been 5 trans women murders this year.

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