A trans woman, living in Ayvalık Sarımsaklı, was murdered on the balcony of her house in December. The news coverage of hate crimes which normalize the violence renders social prejudice invisible and the crime insignificant.

Source: Kaos GL, “Ayvalık’ta Transfobik Nefret Cinayeti”, kaosgl.org, December 15, 2017, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=25090

A trans woman, living in Ayvalık Sarımsaklı, was murdered on the balcony of her house.

According to the news media coverage, the trans woman Kader was murdered with a single bullet to her head on her own balcony during the night of December 13. The murder suspects N.E.Ç and S.K. were taken into custody.

Newspapers normalize the hate crime

Hürriyet, Milliyet, Balıkesir Ekspres and Körfez’de Olay daily used Kader’s male ID name in their coverage of the hate murder against the trans woman. Milliyet, Körfez’de Olay daily and Balıkesir Ekspres used the headline “Transvestite Murder in Ayvalık”, Hürriyet wrote “Fortune teller Kader was killed on [her] balcony”.

These newspapers used expressions which strengthen the existing transphobic prejudice and introduced the victim as “[who] uses the nickname Fortune teller Kader”. All of the four dailies normalized the hate murder and violated the rights of the murdered person.

Hate murders do not only target the victim

In the crimes committed with hate the victims are chosen based on not by who they are in contrast to other crimes, but by what they represent. Therefore, the hate crimes give the message to the victim and the community the victim belongs to that they are not welcome and are not safe. The media coverage of the hate crimes which normalize the act render the social prejudice invisible and the act insignificant.

Kaos GL Association calls media employees’ attention to how the hate crimes which target LGBTI individuals are covered in its 2016 report on hate speech. You can access the report via this link.