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Eight successful sex-change surgeries carried in Azerbaijan


Wed 29 August 2012 05:31 GMT | 0:31 Local Time


http://news.az/articles/society/67211 (http://news.az/articles/society/67211)


Eight successful surgeries for change of male sex into female have been done in Azerbaijan since 2002 until 2011.

According to member of the European Association of Plastic Surgeons Jamal Azimzade, the demand for such operations is growing.

"The matter is that the sex-change operation in Azerbaijan takes some AZN 5,000, while it is much more expensive in other countries.





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Azeri Transexuals Face Social Stigma


Sex change just the first hurdle as society fails to accept gender reassignment.


By Leyla Leysan - Caucasus | CRS Issue 527, | 15 Jan 10 | Retrieved from the Internet on August 29, 2012 by SJ


http://iwpr.net/report-news/azeri-transexuals-face-social-stigma-0 (http://iwpr.net/report-news/azeri-transexuals-face-social-stigma-0)


Inga Ivanova seems like a normal 23-year-old woman as she sits in central Baku in light make-up, a jumper and jeans, but her story is one rarely heard in Azerbaijan. She was born a boy.

"I felt like a woman in a man's body ... passers-by used to avoid me. I was never flamboyant, I did not shock people, I tried to hide who I was, that I was breaking away from normal modes of behaviour, but all the same I was different," she said.

On leaving school, like any young Azeri male, she had to report for military service, and was sent for a hospital examination. Experts declared her unfit to serve in the army, clearing the way for her to do what only 100 or so Azeris had done before her – undergo gender reassignment surgery.





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Azeri Transexuals Face Social Stigma - Story Behind the Story


By Leyla Leysan - Caucasus| CRS Issue 528 | 26 Jan 10 | Retrieved from the Internet on August 29, 2012 by SJ


http://iwpr.net/report-news/azeri-transexuals-face-social-stigma (http://iwpr.net/report-news/azeri-transexuals-face-social-stigma)


The idea to write about transsexuals came to me first in 2003, when a friend mentioned that a sex change operation was going to take place in Azerbaijan. The rumour turned out to be false, but it intrigued me and I began to research the subject.

It seemed to me that society's lack of information was to blame for this intolerance, since people could not understand transsexuals' problems if they were not fully informed.

By asking around, I managed to track down a plastic surgeon who had conducted these operations. Jamal Azimzade initially refused to give me an interview, but in the course of our discussion I managed to explain to him that I did not want to write a sensational article, but conduct a serious investigation.