Nalan Bayar was a gay Turkish woman who committed suicide on August 29 in Turkey. In a statement published by Attitude, her friends describe her death as "social homicide", saying that Bayar had previously moved to Germany to escape the "pressures and threats from her family based on her sexual orientation".
Her friends lament the fact that they "weren't able to prevent" the death of their friend, saying "it's not a suicide, but a social homicide, and the murderer is obvious".
"We couldn't be hope and light," they say.
Her friends note that Nalan's family will now bury their daughter as "someone who had gone [to Germany] to study," attributing her suicide to "the depression of failure." They contest this, pointing out that she "was a graduate from the department of Business in Bogazici University, and a student in the department of Mechanical Engineering in METU."
They say that Nalan fought against the "heaviness of being other, because of her sexual orientation," calling the burden she felt from society "unendurable".
"Murderers will live and die without being aware that they are murderers," they write. "As long as we keep silence like that and don’t proliferate, murders will be committed every day."
They encourage people to speak out about LGBTQIA+ rights, saying that situations like this will accumulate and escalate, reiterating that "the death of Nalan was not a suicide but a murder".
You can read the post in its entirety here.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Beyondblue on 1300 224 636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.