[Table of Contents] [Questions/Comments]
[Learn Turkish: Website Updates]
[Online Turkish Word Dictionary]
|
Free updates for life!
Jim and Peri's Commercial-free CD/Broadband Editions for Turkish Learning -- with triple ebook bonus! 
There's a new (transsexual) girl in town...
|
Romance, Love, and Sex Matters in Turkey
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transsexual actress Emel Aydan (at bottom left) starred with Unsal Emre and Bahar Erdeniz in Aşk, Arzu, Silah (Love, Desire, Gun), the love story of an escaped innocent and a women about to meet her maker, in 1977.  Click! |
Let us know if you enjoy our
'Movies Database' pages and film clips.
We'll add more of them
Turkey talks about its sexuality In the Spring of 1981, Bülent Ersoy had returned with great fanfare from a Unintimidated by the hush-hush government attitude about Ersoy, 30-something Turkish newscaster Uğur Dündar produced and hosted a 60-Minutes-style exposé that same year on his TV program, Günlerin Getirdiği (Events In Our Time) -- concerned with the then-to-fore very private subject of Turkish transsexuals. And, in a controversial segment of the program, Dündar identified 3 prominent Turkish surgeons who claimed to have performed the sex-change operation (male to female) on countless patients. One of the surgeons, Prof. Dr. Atilla Oymak claimed to have done his first sex-change op in 1972, eight years before Bülent Ersoy returned from London -- one appendage short. For decades, Turkish TV news anchorman Uğur Dündar (born 1943, now approaching 70) has had almost the same reputation in Turkey as Mike Wallace (the famed long-time TV host of '60 Minutes', born 1918, now retired in his 90s) has had in North America... In 1973, the then 30-year-old Dündar (who speaks fluent English) interviewed me on camera -- pool-side at the Dedeman Hotel in Ankara. It was in the midst of the Turkish incursion into Kıbrıs, and, after some preliminary chit-chat, Dündar asked me if I was afraid about a rumored Greek air-attack on Ankara. The Greek Airforce of that time had no attack planes that could make the round trip from Athens to Ankara and back, so I pooh-poohed the threat on camera -- and it made the nightly TV news and made me a '15-minute celebrity' among my new Turkish friends and acquaintances. Dündar's Günlerin Getirdiği (Events In Our Time) TV program caused a seismic stir in Turkey -- and in-country effects from it were immediate. The Turkish Attorney General opened an investigation and the Ahlak Masası prepared a dossier -- on the subject of Sex-Change -- and teams of lawyers in both camps began studying the subject feverishly. In addition, an academic 'Sex Change' Commission was formed at Istanbul University by Prof. Mındıkoğlu, whom Uğur Dündar had identified on his TV program as an 'expert' (and whom some believe performed the sex-change operation on Ersoy in London). Later that same year, the Turkish military regime adopted an inflexible stance against all forms of 'social deviance' -- and, with pointed reference to Ersoy, the regime forbade onstage performances by men posing as women. At that point, Bülent Ersoy and Kenan Evren (the Turkish military regime leader) began a battle of wills that lasted until 1988 (even though Evren officially left office in late 1983). So, no one was surprised when (in January 1982) the Turkish Supreme Court denied Ersoy's application to change her official sexual-status to female. Ersoy's response to the Court's decision was a failed suicide attempt. After a lengthy drama (in which Kenan Evren continued to play a background role), the Adalet Bakanlığı drafted and proposed a law to modify the Turkish Civil Code. It was passed by parliament and established a medical-legal procedure for male citizens who wished to undergo sex-change. Those who completed the procedure received a pink identity card (which conferred on its holder the full legal status of a woman) -- to replace the blue identity card held by men. In 1988, Ersoy returned triumphantly to stage and screen as a full-fledged woman. Male and female fans supported and 'adored' her. And it's safe to say that Bülent Ersoy is still the most 'admired' of the Turkish transsexual performers (despite her repeated legal problems, not least among them being her recent court case in 2008 for "turning the people against the Turkish Military service"). But, Bülent Ersoy wasn't the first successful transsexual Turkish film-star/entertainer. Not by a long shot... Comments: Posted by Sabah | December 8, 2008 I savored your piece about my friend, Bülent Ersoy, in the Turkish Transsexuals page. The information seemed accurate, without sensationalising. Myself, I am a transsexual entertainer in Israel and always find it a breath of fresh air to see my transgender sisters and brothers portrayed in a positive method. This website (practicalturkish.com) is a brilliant way to learn Turkish and I send my best wishes and regards. From Israel with Love! |
Let us know if you enjoy our
'Movies Database' pages and film clips.
We'll add more of them
![[Learn Turkish: Home]](http://www.learningpracticalturkish.com/homeicon.gif)
![[Learning Practical Turkish Table of Contents]](http://www.learningpracticalturkish.com/cntsicon.gif)
![[Turkish Learning Message Center]](http://www.learningpracticalturkish.com/cmnticon.gif)
Please email us and tell us how we can improve the Learning Practical Turkish Web site.
© Turkish Transsexual Actors -- Emel Aydan, Aylin Berkay, Derya Sonay, and Bülent Ersoy (Bulent Ersoy) all own Turkish holiday real estate
Actress and Model Hande Ataizi in LPT's first Video Frikik
Hard-body Singer Lerzan Mutlu ups the stakes in this year's Bikini Wars
