Ankara Governorship Cancels LGBTI Film Days

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PPlanned to be organized in Turkey's capital Ankara, German LGBTI Film Days program has been banned by Ankara Governorship following hate attacks carried out on Twitter with the hashtags #LGBTFilmGünleriİptalEdilsin (#MayLGBTFilmDaysBeCancelled) and #İstiklalimizeKaraLeke (#BlackMarkOnOurFreedom).

The program would have been realized in cooperation with the Embassy of Germany, Kuirfest (QueerFest) and Büyülü Fener Sinemaları (Magical Lantern Movies) on November 16-17.

Nationalist association threatened and called for cancellation

Following the announcement of the program, a text by the National Turkish Students Union (M.T.T.B.) with the title "#İstiklalimizeKaraLeke" started to be shared on social media.

The text read "It is self-evident that organizing such an event in the homeland whose every inch has been watered with blood is tragic" and frequently mentioned "blood".

Defending that the event was free of charge because "it aims to deprave national and moral values", the text mentioned the people of Lot and called for the authorities to cancel the event.

Only 295 tweets were posted

123 people on Twitter posted 265 tweets in total with the #İstiklalimizeKaraLeke hashtag.

With the #LGBTFilmGünleriİptalEdilsin hashtag, 23 people posted 30 tweets.

The Governorship took action, “banned” the event

Immediately taking action following the 295 tweets on social media, Ankara Governorship, in a press statement issued on its official website, declared that the event was “banned” on November 15.

Saying that there is information on social media about “a film screening organization that includes certain social sensitivity and sensibilities”, the Governorship in its statement said:

“Considering that the content could incite grudges and enmity toward a part of society... and the intelligence reports that terror organizations are seeking to attack dissident groups or individuals, it is evaluated that this film screening could be provocative and draw reactions”.

“Suggesting the screening could be provocative legitimizes hate speech”

Organizers Pink Life QueerFest said on Wednesday the festival had been attacked on social media.

“Suggesting that these screenings could be provocative or targeted by terror groups only goes to legitimize those people and institutions that produce hate speech toward us and see our existence as a threat,” they said in a statement.

“It only goes to deprive us of our constitutional rights under the name of ‘protection’.” (ÇT/TK)