Her name is Maryam. Maryam, a refugee from Iran, arrived in Turkey in December 2013 and enrolled in the United Nations.
It’s been about six years since she arrived in Turkey. During this time, she said that she has had many ups and downs.
Maryam said, “in Turkey, there is no one like her that has been damaged so much during this time.”
She stressed that “I was being harassed in Iran, and there is no human security here in Turkey either.”
Most refugees and asylum-seekers living in Turkey believe that since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has transferred part of their duties to the Turkish Immigration Office, their situation will not only improve but also decrease the chance of deportation of refugees. The Immigration Office got worse with them.
Today, on Tuesday, December 4th, 2018, in the refugee and immigrant section, we are with Maryam with the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, a girl who “fears the future, and now, after six years of living in Turkey accepted as refugee, it is still waiting for a call from the department of the country assignment to go to a safe land. “
Maryam is transgender. She was beaten, assaulted by her neighbors in the city of Noushahir, Turkey.
Maryam, a refugee who is now living in a Turkish city said, “I had severe emotional shock and I was in a coma for a few nights at the hospital. Then, on a psychologist’s suggestion, I went to police station to file a complaint with the police about a person who tried to rape me. At the police station, they refused to file my complaint and laughed at me. I stayed in the police station and waited for the night shift, who eventually filed a complaint. When I returned from the hospital, they put me on the back of a car along with a criminal, looked like a cage. “
She continued: “No one gives me work as a transgender person, and I had to change my name to find work and continue my life. This defect in the Turkish law does not allow anyone like me to live here with their true identity, and I fear every day that my social circles will find out about my true identity. “
“Although I succeeded with convincing the Turkish authorities to allow my sex change surgery after 4 court sessions with the assistance of my lawyer, I had to spend a lot of money to eventually get the permission papers after 5 years. However, because of my problems in Turkey, this surgery has not helped me.”
Maryam is a girl who is fluent in English and Turkish and is now learning French. She says, “Turkish culture does not accept me as a girl and I get fired every time after three months of work.”
Maryam, “a girl in Iran, under the pressure of her family and society, was heavily influenced by the cultural and religious atmosphere of the ruling”.
“They did not understand me at an early age, and they took me to an ectopic treatment. My father sent me to draft by force, and at that time I was having a lot of problems. Once time, I was arrested because I did not want to handle the gun. Unfortunately, in the detention center I was raped. That night I passed out and later developed a lot of stress, and after a week I became ill with a palsy, and the doctor prescribed me to be in a low-stress environment. “
She continued, “They always complained about my sleeping and sitting style, and I got into trouble even at the university, because of a simple question I got from my professor. I was fired from university the following semester.”
“At that time, my father accidentally discovered my situation and saw my pillows. I was pressed so badly that I had to leave Iran illegally. In the city of Noushahir, Turkey, I slept in the park for two weeks in the winter, but after three months I learned Turkish and found a job.”
In the end, Maryam raised her concern with the United States as her selected third country, and said, “I was accepted as a refugee from the United Nations in 2015, and after a few months they gave me Canada, but in 2016, because of the Syrian refugee invasion, they contacted me that the United States has been selected for you and I have been waiting since then to be contacted by ICMC2 section of the country. “
Maryam finally said: “I am scared of the United States, since about 22 transgender women have been murdered in 2018.”