Excerpts from “Women Who Wear Wigs”

Malek Ulagay / Stewardess Leila

… I was in Ankara, on the hide-out. In fact, at the time, many of our friends had, already, been taken in by the police. I wasn’t caught, but I was being followed by the police…

… All this time, friends in Ankara are telling me to wear a wig, “wear a wig, so that they can’t recognize you!” It sounds like a logical idea, a good idea to me. And I end up with a blond wig…

… You see, during periods like these, chaotic periods like these, odd women seem to emerge…

… It’s always good to turn to love. I mean, “I’m not a professional”, I said, and told them a love story. That I’m in love with someone, that we ran away together, that we’ll get married. “Don’t go to bed with him before marriage!” I was advised…

…Being a political activist or living under illegal circumstances, already means being not being yourself…

Nevval Sevindi

… My first husband was an Iranian. I was in Iran before, during and after the Revolution - out in the streets, with gun in hand. It was fantastic what I lived in Iran. I had also witnessed the last revolution of the Century…

… By the way, something very funny also happened. You see, the medication used during chemotherapy caused over sensitivity of the nerve ends. In my case, it was the nose. My sense of smell developed such that, I could detect the two hundred and fifty of the five hundred different odors around me - I was like a shark…

…With cancer, I thought, my femininity was being put on trial, because the breast and the hair are the most important symbols of womanhood. And it’s these symbols the cancer attacks. I felt as if some terrorist cells attacked my womanhood and I fought back. I fought back fiercely, but I could never bring myself to go out bald headed…
Woman X

… Not to come to school, I mean not to attend class wearing head-scarves.
They tell you its forbidden and that it’s not suitable to attend school like that. Not that we wanted to, we had to we were given a time limit. At the beginning, before buying the wig, one thinks, “should I leave school or stay in?” If you leave, you lose all your chances; chances of higher education, of defending your case, you just sit at home. On the other hand, when you stay, you are forced to go against your faith. And what is most destructive is - not being able to tell which is right. It is most trying and sad …

Demet Demir

… Three years of struggle out there of resistance struggle with the police, with the neighborhood. Transvestites are like I mean you have to relate to each one of them individually, like a mother relating to her children. They’re just like children you have to advise them …

… And then, there is also the Party. I work for the Party. I go to the Party, I go here and there. And then, the dogs at home I don’t have to time even to sleep…

… In 1991, I was put in prison, convicted of insulting Ataturk. I mean, I was
put in prison, so that I wouldn’t be able to talk out, because I had talked out about police torture - the police torture I had gone through and had applied for court action. When I came out of the prison You see, I used to have very long hair. It was all the way down here. They shaved it off…

… It works being a blond in Turkey, because people are mostly dark. They seem to prefer blonds, because their wives are dark…

… Yeah! But you know well, that in Turkey, at the time, leftists were moralists. Forget about homosexuality, even sexual relationships between a man and a women served as an excuse to be expelled from the commune. I was expelled from the commune, because I was a homosexual…

… For example, I’m a member of the IHD, the Human Rights Association. I am their first transvestite member. Even so, I wasn’t all that welcome…

… I am a member of the Freedom and Solidarity Party. I am a delegate. I was elected. I am also a member of the board. This is the first time a transsexual was elected for the board. Presently, I am running for municipal elections…

… Finally, I can say, that all is well with me! Quite well…