Turkey bans German gay film festival over fears 'it might provoke terrorists'

The Turkish government has been criticised for not fully supporting LGBT rights
AFP/Getty Images

Turkish authorities have banned a German gay film festival the day before it was due to start, citing public safety concerns and threats of terrorism.

The Governor's office in Ankara announced its decision on Wednesday, pulling the plug on an event due to show four German films over the weekend.

A spokesman said: "Intelligence reports show that terror organisations are seeking to attack dissident groups, [and we believe] this film screening could be provocative."

Organisers Pink Life QueerFest said the decision risks "legitimising people and institutions" who wish to do harm to the LGBT community.

A person supporting 11 LGBT activists that went on trial in Istanbul last year for marching during a Pride parade
Getty

A Pink Life spokesman told Reuters: "Suggesting that these screenings could be provocative or targeted by terror groups only goes to legitimise those people and institutions that produce hate speech toward us and see our existence as a threat."

The ostensibly modern Turkish regime has failed to support gay rights. Although same-sex intercourse is not banned, public displays of affection are prohibited under "public morality" laws, and gay marriages are not recognised by the state.

Two gay pride parades have been banned in Istanbul in the last two years, with activists being hosed and shot with rubber bullets in the most recent attempted rally.

According to witnesses, police fired rubber bullets at Pride campaigners who marched to protest the cancellation on Sunday.

The last successful Pride march in Turkey took place in 2014, with an estimated 100,000 people turning out for one of the largest LGBT celebrations in a Muslim majority country.

Members of the LGBT community in the country frequently speak out over mistreatment including harassment, abuse and rape.

In 2016, Hande Kader, a 22-year-old transgender woman was mutilated, burnt and murdered in Istanbul. According to data from the rights group Transgender Europe, Turkey has the highest number of trans murders in Europe.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT