Turkey’s Ministry of Health has banned Larin Kayatas, the country’s first openly trans woman doctor, from practising and has dismissed her from her post for a second time, Kayatas announced on Tuesday.
Following the ministry’s decision, the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case against Kayatas, seeking a prison term.
The ministry said Kayatas “engages in disgraceful and shameful conduct incompatible with the status of a public official”.
Kayatas is both a medical doctor and a social media influencer, sharing posts on LGBT issues and her personal life. The ruling cited her private life and even the length of her skirt as reasons for her dismissal. A health ministry inspector wrote a detailed 924-page-long report on Kayatas and her private life.
“What has been done is clearly oppression. I have been left unemployed, and my salary has been cut. I have launched a solidarity campaign and am asking for support,” Kayatas wrote on her X account on Tuesday.
In 2023, after the Health Ministry first dismissed her for “behaviour and demeanour not complying with general morals”, Kayatas was reinstated in her job by an Appeal Court, which also ordered backdated pay for 20 months of salary with interest.
Kayatas had been working as a doctor at Istanbul’s Taksim Training and Research Hospital. She repeatedly said that she had faced systematic bullying, pressure and discrimination at work due to her gender identity and social media posts.