Controversial Censorship Leads to Shocking Cancellation of Turkish Film Festival
Turkey's esteemed film festival abruptly canceled due to government backlash over a politically charged documentary, sparking a fierce censorship debate
One of Turkey's renowned film festivals was abruptly canceled on Friday due to the government's anger towards a political documentary.
The 60th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, scheduled to take place in Antalya, on the Turkish riviera, from October 7 to 14, was set to showcase a variety of films. However, the documentary film titled "Kanun Hukmu" or "The Decree" was unexpectedly taken off the schedule last week. "Kanun Hukmu" revolves around the story of a doctor and a teacher who faced dismissal from their professions in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016.
"If our documentary is initially approved for the competition but subsequently taken down due to external pressure, it corresponds to the act of censorship," stated Nejla Demirci, the film's director, on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
A screening of the documentary film "Kanun Hukmu" was canceled, then reinstatedand then canceled again.
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According to Hurriyet Daily News, Festival director Ahmet Boyacıoglu stated that the film has been withdrawn due to ongoing legal proceedings involving one of the individuals portrayed in it. Boyacıoglu further explained that in order to preserve the fairness and integrity of the judicial process, it was deemed necessary to exclude the film from this year's selection.
Following protests from numerous directors and the festival jury, "Kanun Hukmu" was reinstated to the festival lineup on Thursday, as reported by the paper. However, the Culture and Tourism Ministry of Turkey withdrew its support on the same day, according to Hurriyet. Subsequently, the film was once again removed from the festival and finally, the entire event was canceled.
"We deeply apologize to film enthusiasts, as we have reluctantly made the difficult decision to cancel this year's Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival due to circumstances beyond our control," conveyed Muhittin Bocek, the Mayor of Antalya, in a post on X.
Regrettably, this marks the third occurrence of the festival's cancellation. Previously, it was called off in 1979 following the prohibition of the movies "Yolcular" and two others, as well as in 1980 due to a military coup.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey justified the removal of the documentary in a statement on Monday, as per local media reports. He stated, "The promotion of propaganda that undermines our national sovereignty, particularly disguised as art, is unacceptable to us."
Following the 2016 coup attempt, Erdogan took action by terminating the employment of over 125,000 state workers and detaining over 110,000 individuals, a move that was widely criticized by the international community as a "witch hunt."
