ANOTHER Turkish minority is protesting at its treatment at the hands of the country's thuggish police force, but this time the victims are not Kurds, journalists or Left-wing students, but transvestites and transsexuals.

Turkey is believed to have more transvestites per head than any other country, save Brazil. Many earn a living as prostitutes and claim to continue an historic tradition of homosexual vice. Openly gay or cross-dressing entertainers are a staple of mainstream Turkish television, while Islamic machismo and an indulgence of exotic sexual tastes have existed side by side for centuries.

With the coming to power of a pro-Islamic party, that tolerance is at an end. The transsexuals and transvestites are now subject to police persecution, beatings, torture, stabbings and even the slicing off of false breasts, they complain. But the cause now has its first heroine in the shape of Demet Demir, a strapping, chain-smoking brunette. For the past decade Demir, who underwent a sex change operation two years ago, has been struggling to promote the rights of homosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals. Now her efforts have been recognised with an award from the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission.

Sitting in her tiny Istanbul flat in the company of two transvestites, a heterosexual male dwarf, four cats and three mangy dogs, Demir, was clearly proud of her latest achievement. "Our fight is by no means over. If anything it has become bloodier because the mullahs are in power." In confidential tones she added: "The Islamists are the worst hypocrites. One of my customers was an imam."

Life in Beyoglu, the red light district of Istanbul, has never been easy for working girls like Demir. But it has become harder since the election of a local mayor, Nusret Bayraktar, from the Islamic Welfare party, Refah. And the girls now have a new enemy in Suleyman Ulusoy, a police chief who, they say, takes delight in persecuting them. He has even been nicknamed "Suleyman the Hoseman", allegedly because of his penchant for beating his victims with a rubber hose.

According to the transvestites, the tactics employed by Mr Ulusoy and his henchmen include cutting their phone lines and using axes to force their way into the girls' flats in frequent raids. They also bus in vigilantes from the Right-wing Nationalist Action Party, also known as the "Grey Wolves".

"They come and chant obscenities and threaten to hang us from lampposts if we don't leave," said Ayla, a belly dancer at the Vat 69 nightclub in Beyoglu.

Beste, a 25-year-old transvestite with green eyes and a soft ivory complexion, complained: "Now they are breaking into our homes and setting them on fire."

"All this is aimed at masking the uncomfortable truth," said Demir. "That is that Turkish men love us." In their hearts many Turks would agree that their men are partial to dalliances with their own sex - the fascination with transvestites dates back to Ottoman times.

During military campaigning, the Sultan would usually be accompanied by a contingent of "pretty young boys" for his entertainment. "As a nation it's always been our collective dirty secret," acknowledged Mehmet Geyikoglu, a regular at Vat 69. Istanbul is the acknowledged centre of Turkey's cross-dressing night life. But even Ankara boasts six transvestite bars.

Last year, thousands of Turks turned out for the funeral of Zeki Muren, Turkey's most revered homosexual classical musician. In his lifetime he would appear on television adverts for Omo washing powder. His death caused the greatest outpouring of national grief since the death of the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk. "You see," said Ayla, pointing at his breasts and to what he referred to as his battle axe. "We offer the best of both worlds."

5 April 1997: Prison transvestite caught in ward
30 November 1996: Backlash threat to belly dancers
18 July 1996: Protests as Turks jail journalists