Murder of transgender woman sparks LGBT protests in Turkey

Scores of Turks have taken part in a peaceful protest in central Istanbul calling for justice over the murder of a transgender woman, Hande Kader.

They held signs and chanted slogans for Kader, 23, an LGBT activist, whose burned body was discovered in a forest after she went missing.

According to one report, opposition MPs were among those who attended the rare protest by LGBT activists. Police with water cannon were on duty nearby, AFP news agency said.

Ms Kader, a sex worker, was last seen entering a client’s car one night. Her flatmate found her body in a city mortuary earlier in August. No arrests have been made so far in the case.

“We will not stop until we find those responsible for Hande Kader’s murder,” said Ebru Kiranci, spokeswoman for Istanbul’s LGBTI Solidarity Association,

The death of Kader is the second murder to rock the LGBT community in Istanbul recently – the headless, mutilated body of a gay Syrian man, Muhammad Wisam Sankari, was identified by housemates in late July.