Turkey: Mother of gay murdered boy screams ‘I would have killed him myself’
A father in Turkey has been jailed for killing his gay son – but the mother seems rather more concerned on how his sexuality brought shame on the family.
Seventeen-year-old Roşin Çiçek was found beaten, bloody and with a bullet wound in his head at the side of the road in a Turkish town on 2 July 2012.
He died two days later.
The victim had been living with a friend’s family because he had been exposed to homophobic violence by his own family.
After a trial lasting nearly two years, a court on Monday convicted Roşin’s father, Metin Çiçek, and found uncles Seyhmus and Mehmut guilty of manslaughter.
All three were handed a sentence of life imprisonment.
According to LGBTI News Turkey, Roşin’s mother screamed at the press: “If he [Roşin] were gay, I would have killed him with my own hands. You have shamed us.”
The court rejected the family’s defence the death was accidental.
The killers made contradictory statements throughout the case and claimed not to have committed the crime. However, in the last hearing, the father confessed to the manslaughter but claimed that his brothers had nothing to do with it.
According to Amnesty International, the rights of LGBT people remain unsecured in Turkish law.
Gay men and lesbians are prohibited from openly serving in the country’s military
Minimal progress has also been made when it comes to preventing homophobic and transphobic violence.
