Hello, I’m Alara Yankı Küçükkurt. I was born in 1991 in Istanbul. I am a transgender photo model and human rights activist. I am part of LGBTI+ freedom and equality struggle since I was 16, since the day I met Lambdaistanbul LGBTI Solidarity Association. In the following years, I actively participated to the activism projects in Istanbul LGBTI Solidarity Association, Red Umbrella Association and Istanbul Kadiköy Municipality City Council LGBTI+ Assembly. I participated in gatherings for rights advocacy and peaceful rallies in many cities of Turkey. I came out as a trans woman at a very young age and started my gender adjustment process. In Turkey, the public health security does not cover the gender affirming surgery process which is very expensive. For this reason, I worked as a drag artist, dancer and showgirl in LGBTI+ friendly businesses for many years in order to finance my gender affirming surgery and continued my activism after I completed the adjustment process.
I won the Trans Beauty Contest held in Istanbul for the first time in 2014 and represented Turkey in the Miss International Queen Beauty Contest in Thailand the same year. I managed to get into the top 10 among 30 girls from different countries. My aim in all these activities was to set a good example for LGBTI+ youth who are younger than me and who are exposed to transphobia and homophobia by both the state and the society.
In 2015, I was invited as a speaker to the European Women’s Forum held in Gaziantep, and with this process, I realized that advocacy does not only cover LGBTI+s and that activism should be handled as a whole and intersectional, thus I expanded my field of struggle. I started modeling and also contributed to different social responsibility projects by taking stage at the solidarity night held to cover the education expenses of children in prisons across Turkey. I gave
interviews to Turkey’s leading printed and digital media organizations. Since 2020, I’ve been living in The NetherIands, and right now, I’m starting off with my new chapter.
