Turkish Newspaper Yeni Akit Calls Orlando Shooting Victims 'Perverts'

Some have suggested the headline was celebrating the attack.

Yeni Akit which has ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, broke the story with the headline: "Death toll rises to 50 in bar where perverted homosexuals go!"

The exclamation mark has prompted some to claim the paper was actually celebrating the attack which killed 50 people in a gay bar in Florida.

Pro-Erdogan daily @yeniakit seems pretty happy with the #Orlando attack..
DAMN! pic.twitter.com/Dv0NYtZmzi

— AbdullahSinanÇiftler (@ciftler76) June 12, 2016
A Google translate version.
A Google translate version.
Yeni Akit

The right-wing newspaper has previously supported al-Qaeda and targeted Jews, Armenians and Christians.

In 2013 a Turkish think-tank found 175 articles containing hate speech directed at minority groups.

He said: “People rationalise their hatred. This guy, apparently, according to his dad, saw two men kissing and he was repulsed by it.

“And people know this who are gay, that there are people out there who are sickened and repulsed by our very existence and this guy, however he dresses up his bigotry and hatred, is somebody who hates gays.

“He hates LGBT people and he had a gun... and he used that to murder LGBT people.

“But can we just be clear, because you say it’s lunatics and the rest of it, if he went into a synagogue and killed innocent Jewish people... we call it out for what it is.

“This person is a homophobic terrorist, whatever else he is,” adding: “At the end of the day this was a homophobic crime, as well as terrorism and it has to be called out.”

The shooter, Omar Mateen, was armed with a powerful assault-type rifle and handgun when he sprayed revellers with bullets at the popular gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando, Florida.

The FBI have said the 29-year-old killer born in New York was an American citizen who legally purchased two firearms within the last week before murdering at least 50 people.

Edward Sotomayor Jr, 34, Stanley Almodovar III, 23, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20, and Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, were among the first victims to be named.

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22, and Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera 36, and Luis S Vielma, 22, have since been added to the list of deceased, reports the Press Association.

More than 300 people were inside the building at the time of the attack - 53 people are also in hospital, with most in a critical condition.

Police confirmed that 50 people have died and 53 have been hospitalised in what has become the worst mass shooting in US history.

A state of emergency has been declared following the attack at Pulse Orlando at 2am on Sunday.

The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

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