Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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Transvestites
20.16 The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2002 reported that “Turkish law does not prohibit transvestism. Nor does government policy discriminate against transvestites in any way. Attitudes to transvestites in Turkey are also ambivalent. Some nationally known transvestites from the world of show-business are highly regarded in Turkey. Huysuz Virjin is a famous transvestite who presents a popular talk show on television. The transvestite singer Zeki Müren, who died in 1996, was given a state funeral for his services as a singer.” [2a] (p142)
20.17 On 4 April 2005 ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) reported that on November 17 2004 a transvestite called Hulya was threatened with a gun by a man, with whom she had paid sex, who alleged that he was a police officer.
“He then drove her to a place where there were other policemen and left her with them. … They began to beat her and took her to a police station. Once at the station they continued to beat her and broke her arms and injured one of her feet. Then they wrote a report stating that she had refused their demands and based on that the District Attorney of Kadikoy had her arrested and sent to Umraniye prison…The representatives from Lambda Istanbul Homosexual Civil Initiative and the Human Rights Association of Istanbul conducted a press conference in front of Sultanahmet Court Building on November 25, 2004 demanding the end of oppression towards transgender individuals. The same day they filed a lawsuit against the police officers that committed this crime.” Hulya was aquitted in January 2005 and the first trial of these police officers was scheduled for 6 April 2005. [27b] However, as at March 2006 no information could be found on the outcome of this trial.
Transsexuals
20.18

According to the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2002:

“Transsexual operations are legally permitted and may be performed in Turkey subject to a number of conditions. The new Civil Code, which entered into force on 1 January 2002, imposes stricter conditions than in the past. Candidates must submit a medical certificate stating that the sex change is necessary for the mental health of the person concerned. Persons who have undergone a sex change can record this fact in the civil register and are allowed to marry afterwards. The ambivalent social attitude towards transvestites also applies to transsexuals. The famous singer, Bülent Ersoy, who had a sex change in 1980 and married as a woman in 1999, is idolised, but less well-known transsexuals face the same difficulties as transvestites. Their position in Turkish society is also generally comparable to that of transvestites.” [2a] (143)