LGBT victims of hate crimes commemorated

Nisan Su Aras ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

People march with a photograph of Dora Özer, a transsexual Turkish woman who was killed in Kuşadası. AP photo

Ahmet Yıldız, who was allegedly killed by his own family because of his sexual orientation in 2008, was commemorated at an event held on July 14 at Ankara’s Ethem Sarısülük Park, thanks to an initiative by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans (LGBT) association Kaos GL. while the guilty is yet to be identified.

Participants also sowed placards in the park in the commemoration for Sarısülük, who was shot dead by a police officer at a protest during the Gezi Park unrest, and after whom the park was recently unofficially renamed.

Umut Güner of Kaos GL, who attended the event, drew parallels between the two cases. “[Yıldız]’s killers have not yet been caught, while setbacks and the judiciary’s insensitivity worry us - just like in the case of Ethem Sarısülük,” Güner told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that these similarities influenced their choice to hold the event in that particular park.

Those who gathered in the park made placards of both Sarısülük and Yıldız and hung them high in Konur Street. A joint protest was also held simultaneously across eight cities - Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Diyarbakır, Eskişehir, Adana, Mersin and Berlin - on July 12, in order to demonstrate against the murder of a trans individual, Dora, in the Kuşadası district of Aydın province. Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Sebahat Tuncel was among those who gathered on Ankara’s Yüksel Avenue.

“This is a hate crime and everyone who supports the right to life must say ‘stop’ to trans murders,” Tuncel said at the gathering. After reading out a press statement, the rally dispersed peacefully.