Ahmet Is My Family Campaign Blog (Turkey) - November 20, 2008
What happened
It was five month ago when Ahmet Yildiz told Turkish prosecutors that he had received death threats from members of his family. The prosecutor’s office declined to pursue the case and now Ahmet’s friends claim his family is responsible for his murder. He was gunned-down outside a café Wednesday, July 16th near the Bosphorus strait. After coming out to his family last year, Ahmet’s friends say he endured increasingly dangerous threats from them. He was a physics student and travelled to San Francisco to represent Turkey at an LGBT rights conference in 2007.
Some friends of Ahmet Yildiz are calling this homophobic murder an ‘honour killing’ in reference to their belief that his family is responsible and the fact that his family refused to remove his body from the morgue for an unusually long time.
The LGBT and Bear Community worldwide wants to pay homage to Ahmet Yildiz as a reminder of all the people that suffer discrimination in the world based on their sexual orientation, and to ask to all governments in the world to fight against hate crimes.
LGBT Rights Platform – Press Release (Ankara, Turkey) - November 12, 2008
We are in sorrow and anger. We are in deep sadness, because one of our friends has been a victim of the heterosexist hate and murdered once again. Transsexual Dilek İnce, who has been attacked with a shotgun on 10 November 2008, died on 11 November 2008. We are in anger, because we came here from a cemetery. We are in great anger because we cannot know which gay or transsexual friend of ours is the next. Who killed transsexual Dilek İnce in a shotgun attack? And will the murderers be found?
Who killed gay individual Ahmet Yıldız with a machine gun? And why could İstanbul Police Department not find the attackers? Who forced Ege Tanyürek, a young gay person, to commit suicide in Adıyaman? We are in fear and fright! We would like to know if gay and transsexuals are not citizens according to Mr. Prime Minister? Isn’t it a crime to discriminate citizens?
We want to know If the police will find the murderers? If prosecutors and judges will give up freeing the killers under grievous provocation. We are in fear and freight because we do not know how many other gays and transsexuals will be killed by the Prime Minister’s citizens who “got out of patience.” We want to know if Mr. Prime Minister will create a just and peaceful society by consternating and disquieting. We will not change, you will get used to it! We knocked your doors, we screamed, we wore shrouds, do you think we are playing a game? We are being killed just because we are gay or transsexual. We are looking for justice and we cannot find it.
What we want is not too much; it is only not to be killed because of our sexual orientation and gender identities. How long will you watch us being killed by empowering homophobic and transphobic hate? Hitler sealed us with pink triangles and killed us in holocaust, but could not destroy us. You, the watchers! Do you think that you will be able to destroy gays and transsexuals through hunting one by one? We announce it! Gay and transsexual murders are political – We now the killers! We will not let it go! Shame on your morality soiled with gay and transsexual blood!
