Metin*, a 34-year-old Turkish police officer in eastern Anatolia, has been suspended from duty because he is gay. He can't believe what's happened.

"When they found out, I thought, 'This will cost me my job,'" Metin remembers. He says he was distraught and did not know what to do. He was more concerned about what his superiors would think than about what he would do after being suspended from duty, saying he was scared they would humiliate him.

It all started when Metin, whose lifestyle could be described as conservative, was jailed for an act of "sexual violence." Then, he was suspended from duty for being in a relationship with a man he had met two years ago in the Turkish city of Van. Neither his family nor friends had known about his sexual orientation.

Suddenly, everything went awry

One day, Metin and his partner were drinking tea in the police canteen. Metin was briefly called away. When he returned, his partner was gone. It transpired that he had been taken away for interrogation. Metin says his partner panicked and lied that he, too, was working as a police officer. The police found out this was not true and locked him up for impersonating a public servant. Read more via DW