Turkishka Ebrar Karakurt is a star of world volleyball. And an open lesbian

At first she was subjected to homophobic attacks in her homeland, now - in Russia, where she has been playing for the Kaliningrad Lokomotiv for more than a year

On September 3, 2023, the Turkish women's volleyball team defeated the Serbian national team at the European Championship with a score of 3: 2, and after a few minutes the streets throughout Turkey were filled with jubilant crowds, fireworks and red flags. It was the most large -scale victory of the national team over many years, comparable in their emotional impact with the success of Russia at the European Football Championship in 2008. Moreover, three months before in the presidential election in Turkey, Recep Erdogan again won, and the economic crisis and hyperinflation continued in the country. The main star of the championship was the diagonal Ebrar Karakurt - a tall of two meters, with short colored hair. Since 2023, she has been successfully playing for the Russian Lokomotiv. But in April 2024 they wrote a denunciation to the volleyball player and demanded to be excluded from the team - because she is an open lesbian. All this had already happened to her before in Turkey, and according to a very similar scenario.

On April 14, 2024, in the playoffs of the Russian Volleyball Championship , Moscow Dynamo lost to the Kaliningrad Lokomotiv with a score of 1: 3. But in social networks, the outcome of the match began to be discussed not so much that during the game Dynamo captain Natalya Goncharova showed Karakurt the middle finger - supposedly for the fact that she was too emotionally celebrated by the winning ball. The video dispersed through social networks and caused the indignation of volleyball fans. All previous matches between Dynamo and Lokomotiv were also accompanied by skirmishes between players.

The next day, April 15, Dynamo published a press release with an apology on its website-however, peculiarly formulated. “The women's volleyball club Dynamo (Moscow) and the team captain Natalia Goncharova bring their official apologies to the fans and the audience <...> we regret the incontinence in response to the ongoing (the spelling of the press release is preserved-approx. Medusa) provocation by the players of the rival team throughout the series of matches,” the said.

On the same day, April 15, on the club’s official website in the opening section, another text appeared under the heading “Stop it to endure”. Its author is an adviser to the general director of Dynamo Moscow and the silver medalist of the Olympiad 2000, ex-valetist Elena Godina. The text begins quite neutral: with the recognition of Dynamo’s defeat and a promise to work on mistakes. But already in the third paragraph, Godin shifts the focus on a completely different topic: “The LGBT community in the Russian Federation at the legislative level is recognized as an extremist organization <...> however, in our shame, the broadcasts of volleyball matches are demonstrated by monstrous gestures that simulate sexual acts of the Kaliningrad“ Lokomotiv ”, directed towards the teams of roller roller rogues. same -sex kisses on the lips and other abominations. "

Godina gives screenshots from video broadcasts, on which Karakurt, who plays for Lokomotiv, celebrates the clogged goals with colleagues on the team, and leads photos from the Hallowean party Lokomotiv, which Karakurt concerns the hand of the female breast. “Imagine that your children will be next to the same in one locker room or shower. Would you like these “representatives” to see your children dressing up after training, touching them with their hands, introducing them to what to beat? ” “Godina writes, and adds that this is especially unacceptable when“ Russian lands and people are subjected to enemy bombing. ” In fact, Godina demanded to exclude Karakurt from the team. So far, no official response to the request of the year has followed. Karakurt continues to play in the final games of the Russian Championship.

***

Ebrar Karakurt is 24 years old. She was born in Balykesir, a city with a population of 300 thousand people, in a poor family. At the age of 12, Karakurt began to play volleyball in a children's sports school, which was sponsored by the State Vakifbank. For six years, she went from the district team to the national team. Since 2018, she has been playing for Turkey at international competitions. The Russian stage of her career began in 2023, when she signed a contract with the Kaliningrad Lokomotiv with a salary of 450 thousand euros per year.

Karakurt is famous for its strong feeds and equipment. Its growth is 196 cm, which allows you to put an effective block. At the moment, Karakurt is one of the strongest volleyball players in the world. And, of course, the main star and unofficial leader of the Turkish volleyball team, which is called Filenin Sultanları (literally - queens/sultans of a volleyball mesh, approx. Medusa) . Over the past few years, the Turkish women's volleyball team has achieved phenomenal success and acquired almost cult status in the country. But at the same time, she was in the center of the public scandal, which highlighted the split in a Turkish society. For secular people, the athletes became the embodiment of the image of an emancipated and successful woman, for conservatives - a symptom of public decline and a serious threat to traditional values.

The reaction campaign against volleyball players gained strength as they sought more and more success. One of the first big victories of the girls was the victory over the Chinese team during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 with a score of 3: 0, as a result of which Turkey went to the quarterfinals. Erdogan then personally called the captain of the team of Ede Erdem to congratulate the athletes on the victory. “Have you watched the match?” Erdem asked. “I watched everything to the end. Please pass on to everyone else my most cordial congratulations. I congratulate you and hope to meet when you return, ”Erdogan answered. Such a gesture of the president can be called exceptional. Up to this point, volleyball (unlike football), especially female, did not enjoy very popular in Turkey.

In the same 2021, Karakurt de-factor made a camming out, posting a photograph with her girlfriend on Instagram (now the post is deleted-approx. "Medusa") . A flurry of criticism and homophobic attacks fell upon her. In response to this, Twitter users launched a hashtag #ebrarkarakurtyalnızdeğil (Ebrait Karakurt is not one - approx. Medusa) , in which they sent support words to Karakurt. The Turkish volleyball federation issued a statement that contained the following wording: “Ebrar Karakurt is one of the main and promising Turkish volleyball players. She boldly behaves on the site, plays selflessly and like a real fighter and is ready to protect the honor of our country and a flag to the last drop of sweat. The personal life of people should not interest anyone. This is not related to the case [sports]. ”

The next exacerbation of the conflict happened in 2023, when the Turkish team won the euro. The akhmet, known in conservative circles of the theologian, Akhmet, acted with an aggressive speech to Karakurt. “Even Putin banned homosexuality. And our power, apparently, “does not see anything like that” here. Then they also call themselves Muslims. ”

Ibrahim Melikh Hekchek, the former mayor of Istanbul from the party of justice and development (the party that includes Erdogan - approx. Medusa) , called for the exclusion of Karakurt from the team. “You are a member of LGBT, and you are not worthy to represent our country,” he wrote on Twitter. The conservative newspaper Yeni Akit published an article entitled “National Shame”, to which Karakurt responded with a quote by the modern Turkish poet of the Lose -ups: “On my neck, jewelry made of shame of those who condemn me” - and added: “... that is, a gold medal”.

Another exchange of replicas, which quickly became a meme and resulted in an even greater wave of aggression, occurred on Twitter between Ebrar and the user under the nickname Abdulhamid with 36 thousand subscribers. He wrote: “We, as a nation of the Turks and Muslims, continue to endure you ...” Karakurt replied: “Do not carry nonsense, Abdulhamid,” and posted her photo with a poster on which this replica was duplicated.

For conservatives, this became another trigger, because Abdul-Hamid was called the Turkish Sultan of the 19th century, which is a kind of cult figure among their midst. Then Karakurt had to clarify : “It could be Ahmed, Mehmed or Berke. It's about something else. On Sunday we have a match, I am concentrated on it. I love my country. "

At the same time, Erdogan, in 2023, re -elected to the presidential post on an ultra -conservative and homophobic platform, decided to support the national team and not attack Karakurt personally. “I cordially congratulate our team, our Sultansh with a victory,” he wrote on his Twitter. He was joined by the head of a good party Akscheser. “You brought us great joy, we are very proud of you!” Only after that the attacks of the conservatives subsided somewhat.

On March 31, 2024, municipal elections were held in Turkey. Their result was unexpected even for the opposition. For the first time in many years, the opposition folk resort party, founded by Ataturk, received the relative majority of the votes, and also reserved two largest cities-Istanbul and Ankara, where the Republican mayor were re-elected. Prior to this, the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PSR) has dominated the political arena for more than 20 years, which proclaimed the struggle with LGBTK+ and the Western values ​​of one of its main tasks.

What is happening with the Erdogan regime

This is not to say that it was their conservative agenda that became the reason for the defeat of the PSR in the election - most likely, economic reasons were dominant. But the conflicts, constantly arising around the Turkish women's volleyball team, highlight the split that has reigned in Turkish society for many years.

The athletes consistently talk about themselves as the heirs of Ataturk, and Zever Gunesh (the central blocking the Turkish team) even said that they "embody the plan and vision of the ataturk for Turkey." The cult of Ataturk in Turkey does not lose strength (especially against the background of the 100th anniversary of the republic, which was recently celebrated in Turkey). At the same time, the Islamist Erdogan, formally observing his cult, over the years, is increasingly distant from the Laician and republican principles of Ataturk. It was thanks to Ataturka that women in Turkey gained wide access to education, many professions, universal electoral law. Erdogan constantly talks about the role of a woman as a mother and wife, advising to give birth to at least three children.

The situation with the rights of LGBTK-loves and women in Turkey worsens consistently. In 2021, Turkey left the Istanbul Convention to Protection of Women's Rights. Each year in Istanbul and other large cities, disagreed prides (processions in support of the LGBTK-loves-approx. Medusa) are held, and each time they are accelerated by the police. In 2023, more than 50 people were detained on the Istanbul Pride. And at the procession in support of women's rights in 2023, the police used tear gas.

At the same time, several human rights LGBTK-organizations continue to work in Turkey, and in large cities a rather bright Quir-scene . Ebrar Karakurt, despite the attacks addressed to his address, continues to be a celebrity of a national scale: she is an Ambassador of the most popular Turkish brand Mavi, she can be seen on the covers , in advertising - and in July 2024 she will play for the Turkish team at the Olympics in Paris.

Since June 2023, Karakurt plays in the Kaliningrad Lokomotiv. Judging by the reports of sports media, Karakurt will remain in Lokomotiv at least another season - until 2025. Karakurt often posts videos and photos from training on instagram: ironizes the cold Russian winter, writes about what she likes in Russia and for her this is valuable experience. At the same time, the Russian media, illuminating its stay in the club, as a rule, emphasize precisely on her Quir-identity-or completely publish speculative materials , more similar to the headings of yellow newspapers. Lokomotiv has not yet responded to accusations towards Karakurt. But at the last published poster of the club, it is located in the center.

"Jellyfish"