Hande Kader (1993 – August 2016) was a politically active Turkish transgender woman. Kader was familiar to millions of Turks as a figurehead for the LGBT community after being photographed at the forefront of the resistance against police forces suppressing the 2015 Gay Pride event in Istanbul.[1] In August 2016, she was reported missing by her flatmate when she failed to return home the following week.[2] Her body was found raped, mutilated, and burnt[3] by the roadside in the Zekeriyaköy up-market on 12 August 2016.[4] Despite being badly mutilated, Kader's body was identified by prosthetics at the city morgue by Dengiler.[2][3]
Kader was employed in the sex industry as a sex worker, and was last seen getting into a client's car.[5][6] She was 23 years old at the time of her death.[7] The official cause of death has not yet been released. Reports indicate that after death her corpse was set on fire, possibly to avoid identification of the perpetrator(s).[8]
Following her death, there has been a public outcry and protests against the mistreatment of transgender people in Turkish society.[4][9][10][7]
Boğaziçi University LGBT Studies Student Club (BULGBTİ) announced a fellowship in honor of Hande Kader that will be given to a trans student at the university starting from 2017–2018 academic year.[11] However, the office of the president later announced that the fellowship was not within their knowledge and reimbursed the donations.[12]
