November 20 Association: “In Alsancak, trans women were fined on the grounds of ‘doing GBT’ and irregular procedures were carried out against their homes”

07/11/2024 | Writer: Kaos GL

20 November Association made a statement and said, "We stand by the trans women who have been living in Bornova Street in Alsancak since the 1980s with solidarity now as in the past."

November 20 Association released a statement on their social media accounts regarding the police oppression against trans women in Alsancak, Izmir.

According to the association, in the last two months, police officers fined trans women on the grounds of “doing GBT”. The identity information of trans women was used arbitrarily, and reports were kept by showing the streets they did not pass as “passed”. In addition to these, according to the statement of the association; irregular procedures were carried out against the houses of trans women living in Alsancak.

The association used the following statements in its statement:

"The law enforcement forces arbitrarily take our trans women friends to the police station to testify, and again try to take statements through pressure and various means. The houses where our friends live are criminalized and labeled under different pretexts. For this purpose, law enforcement officers specifically target the houses of trans women on and around Bornova Street. Especially on the streets where criminals roam, instead of catching criminals and bringing them to justice, they keep watch in front of trans women's houses and expose their shelters. We all know that different illegal activities are going on in Alsancak and that the police do not take any measures to prevent this. Especially when trans women who have been attacked, harassed and subjected to violence want to file a complaint, law enforcement officers arbitrarily refrain from taking their statements. On the one hand, trans women's shelters are targeted, and on the other hand, arbitrary statements are taken by using unlawful and irregular means of coercion."

“We stand by trans women”

Calling for solidarity, the association said:

"We stand in solidarity with trans women who have been living in Bornova Street in Alsancak since the 1980s. We see and know the unlawfulness and irregularities. We declare that we will use our legal rights and will not back down. We will follow the process step by step, we share with you, the public, these irregularities applied to our friends just because of their identities and we look forward to your solidarity

Tags: human rights, women