A man has admitted to shooting his trans girlfriend in the chest in Turkey.

Police discovered the 29-year-old body of Sevdar BaÅŸar yesterday (24 February), buried in a vineyard in the southeastern city of Antep.

She was only discovered when her boyfriend Ethem Orhan, who had fled to Serbia with her valuables, confessed to the crime.

He admitted to promising her with marriage and a future, before beating her and shooting her with a hunting rifle and burying her in the vineyard he worked at last week.

But even worse, Orhan was already married.

BaÅŸar had received her pink identity card, recognizing her as a woman, around six weeks ago.

LGBTI rights organization Kaos GL reports how her family and authorities failed to respect BaÅŸar’s gender identity even after her death.

They reported: ‘Her body was washed in a male ghusl (a place of body-washing of the deceased), disregarding her gender identity.

‘In addition, BaÅŸar’s family did not accept trans-individuals to the funeral.

According to the LGBTI rights activists, the family told funeral-goers: ‘Our son has died in a car accident.’

As gay, bi, lesbian and trans people were banned from the funeral on Saturday, activists and friends of BaÅŸar held their own tribute – giving her the respect she deserved.

ZeugMadi LGBT, the main LGBT rights organization in Antep, released a statement.

‘Hate crimes are increasing every day and we do not want to sacrifice any more of our friends to this hatred,’ they said.

‘While any form of punishment cannot bring back out friends, transphobic attacks and murders be punished.

They added: ‘In schools, on the streets, on television, there are people everywhere who hate homosexuals and trans people.

‘It should be known gay and trans people are in every area of life. We are here, get used to it.’