Transsexual Melek’s Killer Arrested
A man, T.P. (26), has been arrested for stabbing Melek K. at her home and killing her. He was caught in the Şereflikoçhisar district of Ankara on Saturday, 18 April.
Lawyer Senem Doğanoğlu, the lawyer assigned to the case, said that T.P. said that he had met Melek K. through a call girl, and that they had started arguing when he found out that she was transsexual. He claims that Melek pulled out a knife.
T.P. further said that after killing Melek, he looked for the money he had given her. When he could not find it, he took her mobile phone and her computer hard disk.
Doğanoğlu added, “How many more times will we listen to such a story? Will it again in a reduced sentence due to provocation?”
On 11 April, Melek K. was stabbed at her home in the Kavaklıdere district of Ankara at night. A group of her friends gathered in front of her home in the night of the following day to commemorate her with candles.
Speaking at the commemoration, Buse Kılıçkaya, a member of the Pink Life LGBTT association like Melek K., said, “Until the murderers are found, we will meet at 7pm of every Friday in front of the house where Melek K. was murdered.”
Lawyer Doğanoğlu said that the increase in violence in society was also felt by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite and transsexual community, with a murder being committed every ten or fifteen days. She said there were also unregistered murders.
Ten murders in recent months
In the last six months, there have been ten murders in the LGBTT community:
On 10 November 2008, transsexual Dilek İnce was shot dead in Ankara.
On 19 December 2008, an unidentified transsexual was shot dead with two bullets through the chest at a roadside in Gebze.
On 10 March 2009, transsexual Ebru Soykan was stabbed to death at her home in Cihangir, Istanbul.
On 20 March 2009, transvestite L.D. (29) was stabbed in the stomach and wounded by three people in Eskişehir.
On 22 March 2009, the body of a transvestite, whose head and sexual organ had been cut off, was found in a rubbish container in Bursa.
On 27 March 2009, Yaşar Sert (35) killed Şükrü Gençer (57) for suggesting a sexual relation (Edirne).
In Istanbul, the bodies of Yaşar Mızrak (44), Mehmet Naci Zeyrek (30), Enes Arıcı (25) and Ercan Coşkun were found in a well. The murderer, Özkan Zengin, said he had killed them for being gay.
On 11 April 2009, Melek K. (25) was stabbed to death in her home in Ankara. (BÇ/AG)