DHAKA: The murder of Hande Kader, a transgender woman, has caused an outcry in Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul.

Turkey remains conservative on LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) issues, but on Sunday (August 21) activists will stage a rare protest in Istanbul, writes Rengin Arslan of BBC Turkish.

“Hande was one of the nicest people in the world. She was very calm normally but also hyperactive. She always went to the LGBTI marches. She pursued a cause that she felt right until the end.”

Davut Dengiler describes his 23-year-old flatmate, Hande Kader, whose body was found in a forest in Istanbul last week.

Kader, a sex worker, was last seen entering a client’s car one night. Dengiler had hoped she was still alive but he found her body in Istanbul’s morgue for unidentified persons.

“I was about to leave the morgue. I felt a sense of lightness for not having found her there. At the last minute, a doctor there said, ‘There's also a burned body - look at that as well.’ I did. I told them identifying features. They then looked at the computer, at the report. The doctor put his hand on my back and gave his condolences. I lost myself,” he said.

He explained Kader’s reaction to the deaths of other trans people: “She would go crazy when trans individuals were killed. She'd be so sad... She had been stabbed and beaten before. This didn't happen only to Hande. It happens to all of them.”

LGBTI activists protest against violence towards trans people, but the rest of Turkish society rarely reacts.

Under the state of emergency, declared after the failed coup attempt of July 15, restrictions on demonstrations are in place.

But for the first time, famous figures in Turkey have joined the calls to raise awareness of Kader’s murder and to take part in a demonstration scheduled for Sunday evening in Istanbul.

BDST: 1006 HRS, AUG 21, 2016
BD