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The following is a list of victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes in Turkey. For decades, there have been reports of murders and crimes targeted towards LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people in Turkey. [1] In general, [2] homophobia is considered to be common across the country. [3] As a result, numerous homicide victims are LGBT people who get murdered due to hate crimes.
Between 2002 and 2013, at least 69 transgender, transvestite and transsexual people were murdered in Turkey due to hate crimes. [4]
Çetin Çalık, a 28-year-old engineer who lives in Beşiktaş apart from his family, was tortured and stabbed to death several times after coming to the house from a gay bar with a gay partner. [5]
29-year-old transvestite Petro Melikşahoğlu was attacked in Harbiye, Şişli, by a group of men from Eskişehir on 16 February 2001, who attempted to force him into sexual intercourse, but upon his refusal Melikşahoğlu was killed and extorted. The murderers were later arrested. [6]
Ekrem Yılmaz, a 49-year-old retired worker, was killed on 27 August 1999 by young men he had an affair with at home, but his murderers were never found. [7]
Ahmet Yıldız was killed by his father in Üsküdar, Istanbul, on 15 July 2008 while he was running away. His murder is the first known case of honor killing of gay people in Turkey. [8]
Engin Temel, a 24-year-old gay worker in Love Point, a gay bar in Istanbul, was killed on 8 December 2008 outside his house in Şişli. Following the murder, 467 people were questioned, including a number of businessmen, but the case was not solved. [9]
"'They could not find a place for my child anywhere in the whole world...'
Can any sentence be so concise, deep and painful? This sentence can only come from and fall out of a mother's or a father's mouths. As long as my breath is sufficient enough, I will take a stand against this discrimination, this speciesism, this cruelty that ignores and destroys those who are not like them; I'll take the side of those whose right to live was blocked. With all my heart and hope..."
Sezen Aksu official website
28-year-old transvestite İrem Okan, who had sex with people she met on the internet in Bursa, became a victim of hate crime by the person she met on 22 September 2010. [10] The mother of İrem Okan, as she was known in the public, was later found in front of her murdered child's house. [11] While crying for her child, she stated: "My son had always been pushed from society because of his sexual preference. He wanted to study. They did not let him. They couldn't find a place for my son in the whole world. My son was guilty, but aren't those who slept with him guilty as well?" [12] Artist Sezen Aksu later issued a letter dedicated to "İrem" on the anniversary of the founding of SPoD, which was opened to commemorate LGBT individuals who were killed. [13]
Following the incident on 22 September 2010, [14] the suspect was arrested later that day, [15] and on 7 April 2011 he was sentenced to 28 years and 4 months in prison. [16]
In July 2012, 17-year-old Kurdish Roşin Çiçek from Kayapınar, who had tried to run away from home as he was subject to domestic violence due to his homosexuality, was later killed by his father and uncles and his body was thrown on the roadside. [17] The father and uncles who committed the murder confessed to their crimes. During the hearing of the case, Republican People's Party MP Mahmut Tanal, Ceren Women's Association and many LGBT associations demanded to intervene in the case. [18] The court sentenced Çiçek's father to aggravated life imprisonment and his uncles to life imprisonment. [19]
On November 20, 2013 in İskenderun, Hatay, 27-year-old Ferhat İlken was handcuffed, his feet were tied, his head was sacked and smashed and he was eventually strangled. 3 Syrian suspects were arrested and released after investigations by the police. [20] Zechariah Ghirep, one of the three Syrian citizens, confessed to the murder and was arrested again a month after the murder. [21]
25-year-old trans women Çağla Joker and Nalan were attacked by two people in their house in Beyoğlu on 21 April 2014. Çağla Joker was killed at the scene. [22] Life imprisonment for the defendant, who was tried for the deliberate murder of Çağla Joker, was reduced to 10 years due to "unjust provocation" and his "good conduct" as the defendant was under the age of 18. [23] The defendant, in his testimony in court, stated: "We met two people who we thought were women. We bargained. He said he was a man. I wanted the money back. He said he would not give the money back and rained heavy curses on us". [23]
Sertab Erener is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990s. Because of her education in classical music, she initially had difficulties in performing pop music. Although she did experimental works from time to time, she eventually preferred to focus on making pop music instead of avant-garde works, in order to make her music heard by a larger audience. In some of her works, she combined Western music and Eastern music, and benefited from operas as well as classical Turkish music with ethnic elements. With her entrance to Europe's market in the early 2000s, many of her works were also sold in Turkey as well as European countries.
Sezen Aksu is a Turkish singer, songwriter and producer. She is one of the most successful Turkish singers, having sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and "Minik Serçe".
Ayşe Ajda Pekkan is a Turkish singer. She is known by the title "superstar" in the Turkish media. Pekkan became a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with her songs, in which she tried to create a strong female figure. By keeping her works updated and getting influence from Western elements, she managed to become one of Turkey's modern and enduring icons in different periods. Her musical style has kept her popular for more than 50 years and has inspired many of her successors. Pekkan is highly respected in the music industry and her vocal techniques together with many of her albums were praised by music critics.
Candan Erçetin is a Turkish singer-songwriter. Over the twenty five years of her singing career, she has been recognized for preparing and singing songs about human life. Despite the fact that she made her albums without much publicity, her work influenced other artists. Erçetin has released many music videos with different themes. Because her family originate from the Balkans, she has often used elements of Balkan music in her songs and works. In addition to Turkish, she has written songs in French and Greek.
Makbule Hande Özyener, better known by her stage name Hande Yener, is a Turkish singer. She made her debut in the early 2000s, and since then has become a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with numerous songs that topped the music charts. Alongside her music career, she is also known for her choice of clothes and has renewed her image multiple times over the years. She has occasionally made changes in her music style as well; for a while, she started making electronic music, but this period was short-lived and she again returned to performing pop music. During her career, both her professional and personal life have been among the favorite subjects of columnists, and her rivalry and on and off feud with Demet Akalın were covered in the tabloids from time to time.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, though the overall situation is considered to be less repressive when compared to most other Muslim-majority countries.
Radikal was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally considered by the public to be a social liberal newspaper. Despite only having a circulation of around 25,000, it was considered one of the most influential Turkish newspapers.
Işın Funda Büyükkaraca, better known as Işın Karaca, is a British-born Turkish Cypriot pop singer.
The Zirve Publishing House murders, called the missionary massacres by Turkish media, took place on April 18, 2007, in Zirve Publishing House, Malatya, Turkey. Three employees of the Bible publishing house were attacked, tortured, and murdered by five Muslim assailants.
İzel Çeliköz is a Turkish pop singer. She was originally part of the Turkish pop trio İzel-Çelik-Ercan, but after the group broke up in 1993, she decided to release solo albums. She is one of the most successful Turkish singers of the 1990s and 2000s.
The prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. Dink was a newspaper editor who had written and spoken about the Armenian genocide and was well known for his efforts for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and his advocacy of human and minority rights in Turkey. At the time of his death, he was on trial for violating Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and "denigrating Turkishness". His murder sparked both massive national protests in Turkey itself as well as widespread international outrage.
Ethem Sarısülük was an activist and worker who was killed by the police in Ankara during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Sarısülük, who was seriously injured by police officer Ahmet Şahbaz during the Gezi Park protests in Ankara, stayed in intensive care unit for 14 days. He was diagnosed with brain death on 12 June 2013 and died in Ankara Numune Hospital on 14 June 2013 at 3:15 pm. In the autopsy report it was stated that the bullet which killed him was found inside the brain.
Ceylan Önkol was a 12-year-old Kurdish girl who was killed by a howitzer by the Turkish military while she was pasturing sheep in Hambaz (Xambaz) hamlet of Şenlik village in Turkey's southeastern Lice district in Diyarbakır province on September 28, 2009. In the early days, the incident was thought to have occurred as a result of the explosion of a mortar shell allegedly thrown from the Tapantepe Police Station. However, according to the forensic medical report issued on 16 October, Ceylan struck an unexploded mortar shell in the countryside with a metal-powered device and caused it to explode, which resulted in her death.
Amancay Diana Sacayán was an Argentinian LGBT and human rights activist who fought for the legal rights of transvestites and transgender people in Argentina.
Ayta Sözeri is a Turkish actress, singer and LGBT activist.
The murder of Ahmet Yıldız occurred on 15 July 2008 in Üsküdar, Istanbul. The anti-LGBT hate crime was committed as an honor killing by his father Yahya Yıldız, in what has been widely referred to as the first known case of an anti-gay honor killing in Turkey. To date, Yahya Yıldız has become a fugitive and has yet to be captured and put on trial.
Lubunca, Labunca or Lubunyaca is a secret Turkish cant and slang used by sex workers and LGBT community in Turkey. The term originated from the root lubni, which is the Romani word for "prostitute".
The Bostancı Show Center is a convention center located on the Mehmet Şevki Paşa Road in Bostancı, Kadıköy, opened in 1991. It hosts many events and concerts.
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