AYDIN, Turkey — Police in Aydin, Turkey are investigating the murder of a 24-year-old transgender woman who was stabbed to death at her home on Tuesday.
Dora Özer was found dead by her housemate, and is the latest victim of a spate of transphobic violence in the country.
Human rights Watch (HRW) reported in 2010 that there has been several transphobic murders in the country, and has called on the Turkish government to take action to prosecute and legislate against discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
However, Turkey’s government has said it has no plans to include such measures in its new constitution.
LGBT rights advocates have asked Turkey’s Ministry of Family and Social Policies for a statement, but so far they say no response was forthcoming.
Local gay rights organizations, KAOS GL and Pink Life LGBTT condemned the Turkish government’s reluctance to tackle transphobic violence at large stating that murderers of trans people rarely face justice and on the rare occasion that they do they receive lenient punishment because judges often find they have been “unjustly provoked”.
Buse Kılıçkaya, a trans activist from Pink Life LGBTT Association stated that the issue of trans murders should be taken seriously.
Kılıçkaya also pointed parallels between the popular anti government Gezi Park protests in Istanbul and trans struggle, saying that in both cases the “resistance to violence is no different.”
The organizations said they are planning protests condemning transphobia and hate crimes will be held in the cities of İstanbul, İzmir and Eskişehir this Friday starting at 6 pm local time.
