The decapitated body of a gay man who fled Syria for Turkey has been found in Istanbul, his body so badly mutilated that friends could only identify him by the pants he had on.

Muhammed Wisam Sankari left his house in Aksaray in Central Turkey on July 23, and was found murdered two days later in the Yenikapi quarter of Istanbul, more than 300 miles away.

Friends say Wisam was trying to leave Turkey because he feared for his safety. He has previously been kidnapped and raped by a group of men.

His housemates told KaosGL of daily threats and police inaction.

“We were staying in a different house before and we had to leave that house just because we are gay," said one housemate, Rayan. "People around would constantly stare at us. We did not do anything immoral. About five months ago, a group kidnapped Wisam... They took him to a forest, beat him and raped him. They were going to kill him but Wisam saved himself by jumping at the road. We complained to the police but nothing happened."

Another friend, Gorkem, was among those who went to identify Wisam's body on Sunday.

"They had cut Wisam so violently that two knives had broken inside him," he recounts. "They beheaded him. His upper body was beyond recognition—his internal organ were outside."

Sadly, Wisam's story is not unique. Refugees come to Turkey to escape the war in Syria, but for gay refugees, the war come with them.

"I was kidnapped twice before," says Diya, another housemate. "They let me go in Cerkezkoy and I barely got home one time. I went to the UN for my identification but they did not even respond to that. No one cares about us. They just talk. I get threats over the phone."

"It does not matter if you are Syrian or Turkish, if you are gay you are everyone’s target," he says, adding that many times the very men who attack them for being gay are the ones who solicit them for sex.

He says they live in constant fear and, after Wisam's murder, can only wonder "who is next?"

While Turkey is often held up as more accepting than other Muslim countries, the government canceled Istanbul Pride and turned hoses and tear gas on LGBT demonstrators in Taksim Square in June.

"ASAM [Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants] and the UN don’t do anything for us," says Diya. "We can only protect ourselves. We stay together to protect ourselves. We cannot get any information or answers. Just talk."