08/08/2025 | Writer: Evrim Deniz
Trans women’s homes sealed in Diyarbakır, LGBTI+ people targeted with graffiti. Trans women evicted from their homes due to police pressure and arbitrary sealings spoke to KaosGL.org about their experiences.
Trans women living in Diyarbakır are being evicted from their homes and systematically displaced due to increasing police pressure and arbitrary sealings in recent months. Trans women accused of engaging in sex work are fined and their homes sealed under the Misdemeanor Law and Article 104 of the 1930 Regulation, without any concrete evidence. However, these practices are not merely a form of “inspection”; they have turned into a form of discrimination that forces many trans women to abandon their living spaces, their cities, and even their motivation to remain in the country.
Spokesperson for the Diyarbakır Bar Association’s LGBTI+ Rights Commission, lawyer Okan Altekin, spoke to KaosGL.org about how this systematic practice isolates and criminalizes trans women, as told by C.S., whose home was sealed for three months, and S.D., who faced another police raid on the second day in her newly rented house.
First a fine, then the house was sealed
C.S., a trans woman whose home was sealed for three months, described what happened:“Months ago, the police came to the house. I was suddenly taken to the police station. I was not questioned. A client who had previously come to my house had already been questioned. I was told I would receive a fine of around 24,000 TL. Fifteen to twenty days later, I was sleeping, my sister was at home, and my niece was also there. The door started being pounded. The police at the door began shouting in the building, ‘Get out of the house, we’re going to seal it.’”
‘Even if I had two trees on a street, they would seal them too’
Stating that she had to travel from city to city while her house was sealed, C.S. said:“I went from here to Bolu. From Bolu to İzmir. To Sakarya. I went through bad things for three months. The sealed house is my own home. Even when I am not doing sex work, these things suddenly happen to me. Forget the house, even if I had two trees on a street, they would seal them too. You have nowhere to go. Where can you go? If you go to your friends’ place, it’s for a week or 10 days, but where will you stay for three months? If you move to another city, they won’t rent to you because you’re trans. Right now, we are all experiencing the same problem. My house is mine, so I’m a bit more comfortable. But after a while, because of these raids, the neighbors will come to my door or I will be killed in some corner,” she said.
‘They do not give us the right to live’
S.D., a trans woman living in Diyarbakır as a tenant, said:“They came without warning and sealed the house. They used the statements of a few people as the basis. They gave three days’ notice in that process. I immediately rented a new house, but on the second day, the police came to the door. Even though I never took any clients, they came. And I realized in the very first week that I would not be able to work here. They are literally trying to throw us out onto the street. After the police left the house, friends from associations came for solidarity and were sitting in the house. I was looking down from the balcony and thought of Kayra, who was driven to suicide. Because they do not give us another chance. They do not give us the right to live.”
Lawyer Okan Altekin
‘The Governor’s Office has launched a trans witch hunt’
Spokesperson for the Diyarbakır Bar Association’s LGBTI+ Rights Commission, lawyer Okan Altekin, drew attention to the systematic pressure and punitive practices targeting trans women. Altekin said that governor’s offices, by using Article 104 of the “Regulation on the Provisions Applicable to General Women and Brothels and on Combating Venereal Diseases Transmitted Through Prostitution,” have effectively launched a “trans witch hunt” in Diyarbakır.
‘Roads are blocked with ID checks, and the fronts of houses are filled with police’
Noting that trans women are subjected to identity checks while walking on the street, that police are stationed in front of their homes, and that their doors are knocked on and actions taken without any justification, Altekin said:“This is clearly part of a policy of criminalization against trans people. Some police officers access land registry records and call property owners to get them to file complaints. After receiving complaints from landlords, police raid the houses. This practice is taking place not only in Istanbul and Ankara but also in Diyarbakır.”
‘The Penal Code and Misdemeanor Law are being violated’
Altekin stated that actions are being taken without the material elements of the “prostitution crime” under the Turkish Penal Code being present and that, despite sex work not being explicitly defined as a misdemeanor in the Misdemeanor Law, trans women are issued heavy fines. “This has now become a routine practice,” Altekin said, emphasizing that these fines are unlawful.The highest level of sanction in Diyarbakır
Highlighting that the sanctions applied have no legal basis, Altekin said:
“Houses are being closed unlawfully by relying on a regulation. Yet a penalty such as closing a house can only be explicitly defined by law. This is clearly a constitutional violation.”Altekin noted that the provision in the law allowing “closure for up to 3 months” is applied for the full duration in Diyarbakır, whereas in cities such as Istanbul and İzmir, houses are sealed for between 15 days and one month.
Stating that trans women are systematically targeted by being associated with prostitution, Altekin said:
“Among individuals engaging in the same acts, the fact that only trans women are subjected to this treatment clearly shows the discrimination.”
‘Hate crimes are being encouraged’
Altekin also recounted another incident in Diyarbakır:“A gay person’s house was marked and the word ‘gay’ was written on the door. This is a direct hate crime and also openly invites such crimes.”
Stressing that none of these practices are coincidental, lawyer Okan Altekin concluded his statement by saying:
“These events are the result of the state’s institutional hate policies against LGBTI+ people.”
Tags: human rights, women, trans
