Gay Syrian refugee found beheaded in Istanbul amid concerns Turkey does not protect EU asylum seekers
A gay Syrian refugee found beheaded in Istanbul had previously been kidnapped and raped, his friends said.
Muhammed Wisam Sankari, known to his friends as Wisam, vanished after leaving his house in the district of Aksaray on July 23. He was found dead two days later, a mile away from his home.
His flatmate Gorkem, who went to identify his body, told the Turkish LGBT magazine KaosGL: “They had cut Wisam violently - so violently that two knives had broken inside him.
“They had beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition, his internal organs were out. We could identify our friend from his pants.”
Muhammed Wisam Sankari, known to his friends as Wisam, vanished after leaving his house in the district of Aksaray on July 23. He was found dead two days later, a mile away from his home.
His flatmate Gorkem, who went to identify his body, told the Turkish LGBT magazine KaosGL: “They had cut Wisam violently - so violently that two knives had broken inside him.
“They had beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition, his internal organs were out. We could identify our friend from his pants.”
Gorkem
and his other two flatmates Rayan and Diya also told KaosGL no suspects
have been arrested, nor did the police act when Mr Sankari was
allegedly attacked earlier this year.
“About five months ago, a group kidnapped Wisam in Fatih (Istanbul’s historic centre). They took him to a forest, beat him and raped him. They were going to kill him but Wisam saved himself by jumping on the road.
Rayan said: “We complained to the police headquarters but nothing happened.”
Although Istanbul has become a safe haven for LGBT refugees fleeing violence and discrimination in the region, Mr Sankari’s kidnapping is not an isolated incident and many gay refugees still face threats and assault.
Diya, Mr Sankari’s third flatmate, said she was kidnapped twice. “I barely got home one time. I went to the UN for my identification but they did not even respond to that. No one cares about us,” she said.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) considers LGBT refugees as particularly vulnerable and prioritises their cases for resettlement to third countries, but the process is slow, taking an average of two years, according to UNHCR’s Turkey office.
Mr Sankari’s friends say refugee agencies like UNHCR and Turkey’s Association for Solidarity with Asylum-Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) are failing LGBT refugees.
“ASAM and the UN don’t do anything for us,” Rayan said. “We can only protect ourselves.”
In June, Greece returned a gay Syrian refugee to Turkey after ruling his claim that he was threatened by two Isil members was “unreliable”, and, given he had lived safely in Istanbul for two years, a Greek court judged Turkey to be a safe country for him.
The readmissions deal between Ankara and the European Union has often been criticised for its assumption that Turkey is a “safe country”.
Human rights organisations like Amnesty International have warned that Turkey does not offer full protection as required under the UN Refugee Convention.
Amid growing instability in Turkey, European leaders now fear that the deal — which has slowed the flow of refugees to Greece to a mere trickle — may collapse.
Jean-Claude Junker, the European Commission’s president, recently admitted: “The risk is great. The success of the pact so far is fragile. President Erdogan has several times hinted he wants to terminate the agreement.”
Meanwhile Erdogan has repeatedly accused the EU of failing to live up to its promises - in return for accepting refugees sent back from Greece, Brussels pledged visa-free travel for Turks and a €6bn aid package for refugees.
On Sunday, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu set an ultimatum for visa liberalisation, saying he expected the EU to implement the waiver in October.
Insisting that his words were “not a threat”, he warned that if visa-free travel was not granted, “we will be forced to abandon the agreement struck on March 18".
“About five months ago, a group kidnapped Wisam in Fatih (Istanbul’s historic centre). They took him to a forest, beat him and raped him. They were going to kill him but Wisam saved himself by jumping on the road.
Rayan said: “We complained to the police headquarters but nothing happened.”
Although Istanbul has become a safe haven for LGBT refugees fleeing violence and discrimination in the region, Mr Sankari’s kidnapping is not an isolated incident and many gay refugees still face threats and assault.
Diya, Mr Sankari’s third flatmate, said she was kidnapped twice. “I barely got home one time. I went to the UN for my identification but they did not even respond to that. No one cares about us,” she said.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) considers LGBT refugees as particularly vulnerable and prioritises their cases for resettlement to third countries, but the process is slow, taking an average of two years, according to UNHCR’s Turkey office.
Mr Sankari’s friends say refugee agencies like UNHCR and Turkey’s Association for Solidarity with Asylum-Seekers and Migrants (ASAM) are failing LGBT refugees.
“ASAM and the UN don’t do anything for us,” Rayan said. “We can only protect ourselves.”
In June, Greece returned a gay Syrian refugee to Turkey after ruling his claim that he was threatened by two Isil members was “unreliable”, and, given he had lived safely in Istanbul for two years, a Greek court judged Turkey to be a safe country for him.
The readmissions deal between Ankara and the European Union has often been criticised for its assumption that Turkey is a “safe country”.
Human rights organisations like Amnesty International have warned that Turkey does not offer full protection as required under the UN Refugee Convention.
Amid growing instability in Turkey, European leaders now fear that the deal — which has slowed the flow of refugees to Greece to a mere trickle — may collapse.
Jean-Claude Junker, the European Commission’s president, recently admitted: “The risk is great. The success of the pact so far is fragile. President Erdogan has several times hinted he wants to terminate the agreement.”
Meanwhile Erdogan has repeatedly accused the EU of failing to live up to its promises - in return for accepting refugees sent back from Greece, Brussels pledged visa-free travel for Turks and a €6bn aid package for refugees.
On Sunday, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu set an ultimatum for visa liberalisation, saying he expected the EU to implement the waiver in October.
Insisting that his words were “not a threat”, he warned that if visa-free travel was not granted, “we will be forced to abandon the agreement struck on March 18".
The Washington Post report shows strong evidence that police delay proved fatal for several club-goers.
The country is definitely much more progressive than its neighbours in the region
