14-year-old boy stabbed and murdered his gay brother last week in southern Turkey. The 26-year-old victim Burhan Tatli of Gaziantep, Turkey, had his throat slit and was stabbed four times by his sibling, whose name is being kept private because he is a minor. It’s believed the younger boy had been teased by classmates because of his brother’s orientation
Although places like Istanbul have thriving same-sex scenes, advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch and the International Lesbian and Gay Association have criticized Turkey as being one of the worst places for gays in Europe. While homosexuality is legal, per se, discrimination and even violence are prevalent and openly gay men are barred from military service.
Source: Gay Star News
Ted B. (Charging Rhino)
Just shows that you are never too-young to commit your first honor-killing.
Ron
excuse me, since when has Turkey been “in Europe”?
Stupid
@Ron: Part of Turkey is on the European continent. (Istanbul is famously the only major city that straddles two continents.) Turkey was one of the first members of the Council of Europe and is in negotiations to join the European Union; this could happen as soon as next year.
Nicholas Reed
@Ron: @Ron: The portion of Turkey referred to as “Thrace” is entirely within Europe. The rest of the country is located in Asia, mostly within the Anatolian peninsula.
Erin
@Ron:
Turkey is a weird country. Despite the fact that Turkey separates Asia and Europe, a lot of places that I’ve seen have classified it as “Asian” or “Eurasian”. Eurasian or transcontinental is more accurate. And this is why:
“Three of Turkey’s provinces are entirely in Europe while Çanakkale and Istanbul are transcontinental provinces. Three of Çanakkale’s districts are entirely in Europe and its other nine districts are entirely in Asia. Nineteen of Istanbul’s districts are entirely in Europe and its other twelve districts (forming Anatolia) are entirely in Asia.” (Copied from Wikipedia).
Arcade
@ 2-5. So we’re discussing the minutiae of Turkey, rather than the guy who got murdered by his own kid brother for being gay?
Nicholas Reed
We gay guys tend to be nerdy. It comes from chasing the approval of teachers, since we were almost universally despised by our peers growing up.
Alexi
“While homosexuality is legal, per se, discrimination and even violence are prevalent and openly gay men are barred from military service.”
Umm, sounds like the U.S. less than a year ago…
Alexi3
Just what I was thinking.
Alexi3
@Ron: Cut a few too many history and geography classes, did you?
Ron
@Alexi3: Here in Israel, history lessons start at around 2000 BC and work their way up. Most people barely make it past WW2 by the time they finish high-school.
A more on topic thought – isn’t it more likely that the murder was done by the young man’s parents or other mature relatives, with the boy taking the blame because Turkish law is limited at what it can do to one so young?
MJ (different from the other one)
@Ron: well. can’t really rule it out, because we don’t know the whole story. so it’s possible
Scribe37
When I moved out of my parent’s house at 19 with my boyfriend, my brother was so angry at me. He is three years younger. When I came back to the house to get some more of my things, he attacked me. The fight ended with me choking him as he screamed I was with a fagg*t. My mother yelled at me to get off him and her broken table. Years later, we are close and he really likes my partner. I say this because I think it is possible that this kid killed his brother. Little brothers have an image of their older siblings and how it looks on them. My bother took everything about me personally, that I didn’t play sports, that I took honor classes, and that I wasn’t trying to sleep with every woman I knew. Out of my whole family it was the hardest for him to deal with me being gay.
Randall Reynolds
Yet another hate crime brought to us by Religion. And Islam.
Belize
@Nicholas Reed: Oh honey. That notion is so old it has grand-children (AKA the mentality that gay people are purveyors of culture.) Trust me when I tell you that there are a lot of idiots in our midst. A simple tour of Queerty would tell you this.
Belize
@Alexi: Less than a year ago? Doll, it’s hardly THAT different today.
Triple S
Sigh. I suppose it’s pretty tragic that I don’t feel that much shock. I should, but after seeing so much of this bullshit, not just against gays and lesbians, but against anyone.
Not even just minorities; straight, married or engaged people get murdered for their love. Last year, in Turkey, a Turkish woman became romantically involved with an Irishman I think it was (if not, they were foreign). The family, at the urging of the matriarchs of the family, basically ordered another male member to kill the man.
They did. And why?
Their murderous and sick religious teachings as well as their culture.
And what does anyone do? Nothing. Not because we can’t be fucked, it’s because we’re barred from saving these people. That farce of an organisation, the UN is USELESS.
They do NOTHING but talk!
And foreign nations can do absolutely nothing to help. All we can do with these murderers is talk, talk, talk.
And those who can do something; the inhabitants of these countries believe that perpetuating it is the right thing to do. And those who don’t believe that crap that their culture brings out, don’t seem to want to help.
Belize
@Scribe37: Funny you mentioned that. I know someone who’s been played sports and wasn’t part of honor classes. When he came out, none of his three brothers (one older; two younger)wanted to kill him. In fact, they were very supportive.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that you should pander to the macho gay stereotype (that has long prided itself as the alterna-gay.) I’m just saying that sometimes it has little to do with who you sleep with but rather how you are in general.
And maybe your brother didn’t really hate you for being gay. He just hated you for leaving. And saying “faggot” was something he did because he thought it would hurt more (queue in Tyler the Creator copyright.)
But then again, these are mere theories. Nothing more.
freddie
@Nicholas Reed: This.
Ng is a last name
It only shows that most loves ARE conditional.
Mike
@Stupid: Turkey has been in talks to join the EU since it was the EC, back in 1987. They won’t be joining next year. ROFL.
GC
@Scribe37
“Little brothers have an image of their older siblings and how it looks on them”
Except that is not the case at all. Many families work as a single, cohesive unit, with each member acting as a “gear.” When one of these doesn’t quite fit their expectations (gender identity, sexual orientation, etc…), backlash is bound to occur.
Age ultimately has nothing to do with inter-family violence, as a quick search will reveal its many facets; father-on-son, sibling-on-sibling, mother-on-daughter…