Turkish Olympic volleyball player Ebrar Karakurt has received the support of teammates and public figures after being subjected to homophobic insults online.
Supporters rallied around the 21-year-old, who helped carry Turkey’s national volleyball team reach the quarterfinals in Tokyo, after she received backlash upon sharing a photograph with her girlfriend on her Instagram account, Medyascope TV reported.
Twitter users shared he hashtag #EbrarKarakurtYalnızDeğil – Ebrar Karakurt is not alone – as they clapped back a criticism over her sexual orientation.
“Always be who you are because the Ebrar we know is very special, very beautiful,” her teammate Hande Baladin said on Twitter.
Karakurt is focused on volleyball and could care less about “anything said about her,” said her teammate Naz Aydemir, who praised the player.
Pop singer Demet Akalın got behind Karakurt, saying her personal life “concerned no one but herself.’’
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“Ebrar Karakurt is one of the most important and promising players of Turkish volleyball,’’ the spokesperson for the Turkish Volleyball Federation, Kurtaran Mumcu, said.
“Everyone’s private life is their own,’’ Mumcu added.
A standout member of theTurkish women’s volleyball team, Karakurt, has since deleted the photograph in question.
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