12th Genetically Modified Tomato Awards were distributed at the ceremony on Thursday. Boysan Yakar, Zeliş Deniz and Mert Serçe, the activists who lost their lives last year, were also commemorated in the ceremony.
Source: “Hormonlu Domatesler Sahiplerini Buldu: 140Journos, İstanbul Üniversitesi…”, BİA Haber Merkezi, June 24, 2016, http://bianet.org/bianet/lgbti/176181-hormonlu-domatesler-sahiplerini-buldu-140journos-istanbul-universitesi
12th Genetically Modified Tomato Awards found their new winners on Thursday in a ceremony at Şişli Urban Cultural Center.
There were stage performances at the ceremony and the entire audience danced to commemorate the three activists who lost their lives last year, Boysan Yakar, Zeliş Deniz and Mert Serçe.
Yeni Akit daily received the majority of the votes in the media category with its headline “The number of deaths increased to 50 at the bar visited by the perverted homosexuals” following the Orlando attack, but since the newspaper has continuously perpetrated hate speech with its news and won the award repeatedly, it was given the “Lifetime Genetically Modified Tomato” award.
In the “media” category the award was merited by 140 Journos, which used a transphobic language while covering last year’s Trans Beauty Pageant, and announced its nomination for Genetically Modified Tomato Awards upon the criticism it received. Other nominees in this category were Sabah daily, Cem Keçe and Hürriyet Aile, Hayrettin Karaman of Yeni Şafak, Milat daily and its reporter Enes Babacan, Vahdet daily, Milli Gazete and Yeni Akit.