‘She Insulted My Manhood’: Murder Underlines Turkey’s LGBT Backlash

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08/16/2018

In a country where anti-gay violence is often excused as unjust provocation, a fatal shooting has raised fresh fears. Simge Avcı loved practical jokes, says her roommate Bahar, recalling how her friend would giggle after pretending to spill the contents of an empty teapot on her startled victims. Bahar (not her real name), 25, had lived with Avcı for seven years in Samsun, a small, sleepy city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. On 13 July, the roommates went out for a long breakfast with Avcı’s boyfriend, Mecit Sezer, and her mother. They chatted as they ate and later went to a local pool to combat the sweltering heat. “It was a normal day,” says Bahar. The group parted company at about 7pm. Less than five hours later, Avcı was shot in the stomach and died. Sezer, her boyfriend of six months, has been arrested, but not charged. Sezer has reportedly claimed that Avcı “insulted his manhood”.

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