02/11/2012 | Writer: Kaos GL
‘Is Avcılar going to be a new lynch area?’ Kaos GL asked and said that ‘transgender citizens’ right for housing can not be seized.’.
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“Is Avcılar going to be a new lynch area?” Kaos GL asked and said that “transgender citizens’ right for housing can not be seized.”.
Kaos GL made a statement October 4, about the transphobic lynch and exiling policy that takes place in Avcılar.
“Is Avcılar going to be a new lynch area?” Kaos GL asked and said that “transgender citizens’ right for housing can not be seized.”.
The Association claimed that legal regulations prevent the equal participation of transgender citizens in social and economic life. They also stated “the police becomes the ‘mediator’ in the vicious cycle of ‘prostitution’ by applying the same rules in an arbitrary way and fine transgenders!”.
We are publishing the whole text of the statement made by Kaos GL to the public and the press today:
Is Avcılar Going to Be a New Lynch Area?
Transphobic lynch and exiling policy was put into practice in Avcılar this time.
The transphobic lynch and exiling policy which took place previously in Pürtelaş and Ülker streets in İstanbul, and in Eryaman in Ankara, was carried out in Avcılar this time. During the operation performed by the collaboration of “The residents” and the police, 15 transgenders were taken into custody for performing prostitution.
Last week, a group of residents protested transgender citizens for disturbing them, with pots and pans in their hands.
Until transgender people in Avcılar leave their houses, the group gathered every night at 22.00, making hate speech under the cover of protesting “prostitution”, saying “we don’t want transvestites in our lives.”.
“Stub the trees, transvestites go out of our lives!”
The group which started the process of the transphobic lynch and exiling, told the police and municipal “we don’t want transvestites in our lives” and asked for stubbing the trees:
“We speak to everyone, we don’t want transvestites in our lives. Either they will find a place elsewhere, or they go out of our lives. We don’t have to protect our families from the perverts floating around them. If we live in a country like Turkey, we need to get through this properly. We pursue judicial proceedings. We want the mayor to stand by our side. Nothing happens by planting trees or turfing here. If the mayor can walk around here with his wife, let him do. But we cannot. The trees turned everywhere to a prostitution area. Either they lighten up here, or stub the trees. We don’t want them.”
Call for transphobic lynch from “the residents”, provocating hate from “the media”!
“The neighbourhood pressure” that aims the lynch and exiling in Avcılar was supported by the media! The TV channel Kanaltürk didn’t mind to cooperate with the group provocating homophobic and transphobic hate in their programme called “Neşter” (The Scalpel) broadcasted on October 3, 2012
The channel violated media ethics and be nothing but a mere spectator to the whole anger of the group saying “We want Avcılar to be cleaned”, “we want normal lives”, “we don’t want fags, whores, pricks in Avcılar”.
Call for transphobic hate cannot be freedom of expression!
Mehmet Aydın, the host of the programme “Neşter”, revealed the names and places of transgender people calling the programme and let them become the target of the hate discourse.
The discourse provoking transphobic hate mediated by Mehmet Aydın, the host of Neşter broadcasted in Kanaltürk, cannot be accepted as “freedom of expression”!
Adressees of the problem in Avcılar is not merely the four “residents” as claimed, but all of the transgender people, LGBT organizations and human rights organizations. Mediating provocative hate is not included in responsible journalism!
We don’t want ghettos but all of the city!
It is unacceptable that LGBTs (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) are dismissed from their houses by lynch and exiling policies, or forced to live in the ghettos, isolated areas of the city.
We will not be silent to the situation in which the transgenders are forced to leave their houses due to the neighbourhood “blockade” that is under the control of police and media.
No poll taxes to transgenders!
Twelve of the transgenders taken into custody were fined with 169 TL for “Misdemeanor Law”, three of them were sent to the court for “mediating prostitution”.
Transgender existence is not a crime! Stop the poll taxes on trangenders by Misdemeanor Law!
How do you expect transgenders to pay the “fines” when you arrest them for “performing prostitution” ? While the laws prevent transgenders to participate in social and economic life equally as others, the police becomes the ‘mediator’ in the vicious cycle of ‘prostitution’ by applying the same rules in an arbitrary way!
The housing rights of transgenders cannot be seized!
Which legal barriers prevent transgenders to buy or rent an estate? Is every transgender citizen going to be treated as guilty for “mediating prostitution” everytime they buy or rent a house?
In our country where prostitution is not a “crime”, transgenders stand as “guilty with no guilt” and are exposed to arbitrary custodies, mistreatment and torture. They are forced to migrate by the neighbourhood pressure supported by police.
The housing rights of transgenders cannot be seized!
The ones who mediate or be a mere spectator to the lynch and exiling efforts which seize the housing rights and put the citizens’ security at risk are guilty themselves!
Kaos GL Association
October 4, 2012, Ankara
Translation: Birce Pakkan / Kaos GL
Tags: human rights
