IN A cramped makeshift theatre in Istanbul, a Kurd in a purple dress titillates the audience with the story of how he was born a man but found he was a woman. During her act, Esmeray wields a sharp tongue to expose the systematic violence faced by fellow transvestites. “I am a Kurd, a transvestite and a feminist, so I am screwed all round,” she says.

Amberin Zaman

Esmeray in the purple

Human-rights groups say hundreds of transvestites are detained, beaten, tortured or sexually abused every year. Many are driven into prostitution. “They are seen as the lowest of the low and face more police brutality than any other group,” says Eren Keskin, a human-rights lawyer. And when anyone has dared to file a complaint, she adds, “not a single policeman has been convicted.”

Turkey is said to have more transvestites per head than anywhere bar Brazil. Fascination with cross-dressing dates to Ottoman times, when winsome boys dressed as girls would belly-dance for the sultan. But, just as tolerance of Christians and Kurds withered under Ataturk's republic, so it did for transvestites and gays. The success of a few transvestite singers disguises the “general acceptance in Turkish society that we are freaks,” says Funda, a transvestite dancer.

Same-sex relations are not banned in Turkey. But like America, it bans gays and cross-dressing men from the army. Yet to win exemption from mandatory military service, they must prove their sexual orientation. A Human Rights Watch report notes that this can involve “abusive and intrusive anal examinations”, and adds that many are forced into psychiatric treatment because they are deemed to be mentally ill.

Such abuses have drawn rebukes from the European Union. Emboldened by EU-inspired reforms, gays are starting to speak up. In June Istanbul hosted the country's biggest gay pride parade, with hundreds of unfazed riot police looking on. The parade featured veiled transvestites protesting against the ban on Islamic-style headscarves at universities. A vocal band of pious women is now fighting discrimination against cross-dressing compatriots. This alliance is just one example of Turkey's unusual mix of Islam and democracy.

The government is not so liberal. The interior ministry is said to be behind efforts to disband Lambda, an advocacy outfit, because it is sowing immoral values. An Istanbul court has ruled against Lambda, which is now appealing. And Esmeray is battling against two policemen who allegedly punched and kicked her as she was walking home in June 2007. The men are to appear in court next March on charges of causing her bodily harm. “Justice is slow, but it will come,” she vows.