Turkey: Ankara bans all LGBTQ public events

Turkey’s capital of Ankara has banned all public LGBTIQ events until further notice, to protect “public security” said governor’s office.

In a statement on Sunday, the office said that all LGBTIQ “cinema, theatre performances, panels, interviews and exhibitions are banned until further notice in our province, in order to provide peace and security”, from 18 November.

The office stated that it discovered a “number” of LGBTIQ events were being planned in the province via social and traditional media and they posed issues for public order.

“A part of society with different qualities in terms of social class, race, religion, sect, or region could therefore explicitly incite another part [of society] to grudges and enmity, posing an open and imminent danger in  terms of public safety” the statement added.

The announcement followed a ban on a LGBTIQ film festival, Pink Life QueerFest, organised with the German embassy. The festival was set to take place on 16 and 17 November, featuring four films screening in Ankara cinemas.

“Suggesting that these screenings could be provocative or targeted by terror groups only serves to legitimise those people and institutions that produce hate speech towards us and see our existence as a threat” the statement of the festival read.

"It only goes to deprive us of our constitutional rights under the name of 'protection.'"

What a real shame. Not even Zeki Müren bore witness to this level of #Homophobia in #Turkey. 😔 https://t.co/PX3OhKa8gC

— Robbie-Lee Valentine (@RLValentine) November 19, 2017

In another statement issued by the festival and jointly with Turkish LGBTQ rights organisation KAOS GL on Sunday, it announced that legal proceedings will be taken against the governor's office on the ban.

"There can be no legitimate or legal grounds for such a wholesale ban that touches the core of rights," it reads.

"We expect this decision to be rethought and withdrawn in the shortest amount of time. In our country where discrimination and hate based on sexual orientation and gender identity is rampant, it is the duty of national and local administrations to combat this discrimination and hate."

Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey. Despite this, Istanbul's Pride Week has been banned by authorities three years in a row.

This year, Istanbul's governorship also gave public order and safety as reasons for the ban on the LGBTQ event.