Ebrar Karakurt (born 17 January 2000) is a Turkish

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She is tall and plays as opposite. She is a part of the

Turkey women's national volleyball team The Turkey women's national volleyball team ( tr, Türkiye Kadın Voleybol Milli Takımı) is formed by the Turkish Volleyball Federation (TVF) and represents Turkey in international CEV and FIVB organizations. The team is one of the most ...

Volleyball career

Club

Karakurt started her volleyball career at DSİ Spor in

Balıkesir Balıkesir () is a city in Turkey and is the capital city of Balıkesir Province. Balıkesir is located in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a population of 338,936. Between 1341–1922, it was the capital of Karasi. History Close to mo ...

. After settling in

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

, she continued to play in her school team at Bursa Bahçeşehir Anadolu High School, and at the same time in the Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor. She played for Bursa BB in the

2014–15 Turkish Women's Volleyball League The 2014–15 Turkish Women's Volleyball League The Turkish Women's Volleyball League ( tr, Türkiye Kadınlar Voleybol 1. Ligi) officially called the Sultans League (Turkish: Sultanlar Ligi), is the highest professional women's volleyball league ...

. She has two club licenses, which allow her to play for Bursa BB and Vakıfbank. She was a member of the youth team at Vakıfbank before she was taken to the senior team. She was part of the Vakıfbank team, which became champion of the

2017–18 CEV Women's Champions League The CEV Champions League was the highest level of European club volleyball in the 2017–18 season and the 58th edition. The Turkish club VakıfBank Istanbul won its fourth overall and second consecutive title. The Romanian club CSM Volei Alba Bla ...

. She played with the Vakifbank team until moving to the Turkish team Türk Hava Yolları in 2020.

National team

She was part of the Turkey U18 team, and played at the 2017 Girls' U18 Volleyball European Championship in the Netherlands, as well as at the

2017 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Championship The 2017 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Championship was the fifteenth edition of the international volleyball tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 18, organized by the sport's world governing body, ...

in Argentina. She was named one of the two ''Best Outside Spikers'' of the world tournament. She participated at the

2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship The 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women's U23 World Championship was the third and final edition of the international volleyball tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 23, organized by the sport's world governing ...

in Slovenia with the Turkey U23 team, which became the champion of the tournament. After being admitted to the Turkey national team, she experienced many important achievements, the most current of which is the silver medal at the 2019 Women's European Championship organized in Ankara, Turkey. Before that, she played in the

2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League The 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League was the inaugural edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League, a new annual international women's volleyball tournament contested by 16 national teams that replaced the former World Grand ...

with her team and reached to the silver medal.

Personal life

In August 2021 Karakurt shared a photo of herself and her girlfriend on her Instagram account. The Instagram post was published by the conservative newspaper ''

Takvim ''Takvim'' is a Turkish daily newspaper owned by Kalyon Group. The word "takvim" means calendar in Turkish. Founded by Dinç Bilgin in 1994, ''Takvim'' was acquired by Ahmet Çalık's Turkuvaz Media Group in 2008, as part of its $1.1bn purchase ...

'', which called her sexual orientation and relationship "scandalous", which in turn led to her being subjected to homophobic slurs on social media. Turkish

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü (born February 27, 1965), known colloquially as Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca, is a Turkish televangelist and hafiz. He is a follower of Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu in İsmailağa. His controversial views are often reported by the Turkish ...

criticized her by saying that he "wonder dwhat kind of troubles she could gather on urks. After the attacks Karakurt has received messages of support on social media. The Turkish National Volleyball Federation spokesperson Kurtaran Mumcu supported Karakurt and criticized the homophobic comments directed at her.

Demet Akalın Demet Akalın (born 23 April 1972) is a Turkish singer and former model. Due to the popular songs she has released since the middle of the 2000s, she has become one of the most recognizable names of Turkish pop music. Akalın, who was born in G� ...

Eda Erdem Dündar Eda Erdem Dündar (, born Eda Erdem; 22 June 1987) is a Turkish professional volleyball player. She currently plays for both Fenerbahçe SK and the national team and is the captain of both teams. Career Eda Erdem has been playing for Fenerba ...

and

Naz Aydemir Naz Aydemir Akyol (born 14 August 1990) is a Turkish volleyball player, widely regarded as one of the best setters in international volleyball. She plays as setter for Fenerbahçe and the Turkey women's national volleyball team. She has won a to ...

were among the people that have shown support to Karakurt.

Honours

Club

,
2019 FIVB Club World Championship – * Bronze medal, with VakıfBank

National team

* 2017 U23 World Championship- Gold Medal * 2018 Nations League - Silver Medal * 2019 European Championship - Silver Medal * 2021 Nations League - Bronze Medal * 2021 European Championship Bronze Medal

Individual

* '' 2017 FIVB Girls' U18 World Championship – "Best Outside Spikers"'' * '' 2019 FIVB Nations League – "Best Outside Spikers"''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karakurt, Ebrar Living people 2000 births Sportspeople from Balıkesir Turkish women's volleyball players VakıfBank S.K. volleyballers Turkey women's international volleyball players Olympic volleyball players of Turkey Volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics LGBT volleyball players Turkish LGBT sportspeople