Transgender Killings Rise in Turkey
Glen Johnson reports from Istanbul on the increasingly common murder of transgender prostitutes in Turkey.
ISTANBUL — Caesar sits huddled down a darkened back alley, her bleached blonde hair falling in strings down her face. She says the streets are not safe.
The 25-year-old has worked Maltepe Road — the most dangerous stretch for prostitutes in Istanbul — for the past few years, since her gender-confirmation surgery.
Yet she seems unconcerned about a brutal spate of violence targeting Turkish transgender sex workers: sex workers like Nese Dilseker, whose corpse was found in an Antalya apartment in July. The killer carved Dilseker’s face and slashed her throat open. She bled out on the floor.
Caesar is more worried the police will fine her for misdemeanors.
