In a First in Turkey, a Trans Woman Starts Working as a Driver at Avcılar Municipality

Transgender woman activist Niler Albayrak has started working as a driver at the main opposition CHP’s District Municipality of Avcılar in İstanbul. Albayrak was also an MP candidate for nomination in 2015 general elections.

Photo: kaosgl.org

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Niler Albayrak, a transgender woman activist living in İstanbul, has started working as a driver at the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) Avcılar District Municipality, which is a first in Turkey.

As reported by Gazete Karınca news website, Albayrak has announced the news on her Facebook account and thanked CHP's Avcılar District Mayor Turan Hançerli. Expressing her happiness, Albayrak has said,

"Hello, I am very happy and joyful. It has perhaps something to do with wanting it so much and it is, of course, something that happened with the initiative and desire of the other side. And, again, a first in Turkey and under the umbrella of the CHP... I also thank our Dear Mayor Turan Hançerli, who has made this first come true. This first has come true in Avcılar and at Avcılar Municipality thanks to him, too.

"I have just started working as a driver. I would like to extend so many thanks to the ones who have supported me. It is especially good to make a first come true again. As a trans woman with an open identity and a trans woman driver, thanks a lot to our mayor and municipality."

Albayrak was previously an executive of the CHP Avcılar District Organization and an MP candidate for nomination from the third voting district in İstanbul in 2015. In another first in Turkey, she was elected as a delegate of Merkez Neighborhood in 2017. (RT/SD)