Woman requests legal injunction for a penis

MERSIN - Doğan News Agency

D.K. requests a change in regulations so she can return to being a man. DHA photo

A transsexual living in Mersin who underwent surgery to become a woman has requested a change in regulations so that she can return to being a man by having a penis reattached to her body.

D.K., a 34-year-old originally from the eastern province of Van who describes herself as a believing Muslim, asked the Directorate of Religious Affairs whether it was religiously permissible to receive a penis transplant from a cadaver, but religious officials said it was impermissible unless the penis originally belonged to the transplant recipient.

“I am a believer,” said D.K. “I perform my prayers like a man, not like a woman. This decision has affected me a lot. I want a legal injunction.”

But while the directorate failed to give religious backing for D.K.’s surgery, others said the operation would be possible.

“We first analyzed if it was possible as a medical situation, and we found that it has no risks,” Okşan Öztok, head of the Human Support Foundation, a conservative organization directed toward engagement with members of the LGBT community, told Doğan news agency. “There are more than 20 people like this that we have in our files. This is as normal as a face or arm transplant.” In 2003, D.K underwent surgery to become a woman before marrying a man.