Tag: Turkey

Posted on

President Erdogan Of Turkey Complains Of ‘LGBT Colors’ At UN

President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey (screen capture)
Turkey’s virulently anti-LGBTQ President Tayyip Erdogan had a hissy fit on Thursday, saying he was “uncomfortable” with the United Nations building being decorated with what he described as “LGBT colors.” In fact, what Erdogan saw was not the rainbow Pride flag but the 17 different colors associated with the Sustainable Development Goals, which were used throughout the building for a summit held at the U.N. earlier this week. Continue reading “President Erdogan Of Turkey Complains Of ‘LGBT Colors’ At UN”

Posted on

News: 2023 Drama Desk Awards, Digital Pride Events + More

Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee in ‘Some Like It Hot’ (photo: Marc J. Franklin)
Some news stories you might have missed: • Broadway News: The hit musical Some Like It Hot scored 8 Drama Desk Awards this week including Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for the show’s star J. Harrison Ghee, who identifies as non-binary. Continue reading “News: 2023 Drama Desk Awards, Digital Pride Events + More”

Posted on

Colton Underwood Weds, Elliot Page Soaks In The Sun + More News

Jordan C. Brown and Colton Underwood (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • PEOPLE: Colton Underwood, the Bachelor alum who came out as gay in 2021, 31, wed Jordan C. Brown, 38, in front of 200 guests in a romantic ceremony at the Carneros Resort and Spa in Napa Valley on Saturday. Continue reading “Colton Underwood Weds, Elliot Page Soaks In The Sun + More News”

Posted on

Instanbul Police Fire Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets At Pride Participants

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at participants of an LGBTQ Pride event in Instanbul

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at participants of an LGBTQ Pride event in Instanbul
(screen capture via Global News)
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at participants of a Pride March in Instanbul on Saturday, arresting 25 people. Among those detained was AFP photographer Bulent Kilic. From Deutsche Welle:

While thousands gathered peacefully in Berlin, Paris, London, Rome, Milan and elsewhere in Europe for Pride parades, the authorities in Istanbul reacted with a heavy hand to those who gathered in the central Beyoglu district of Istanbul.

The march participants comprised several civil society groups that gathered under the motto “the street is ours.” Footage and photos of demonstrators showed some being pushed and dragged by riot police on Istiklal Avenue in the heart of the city.

Images posted on social media showed photographer Kilic pressed to the ground with police holding him down with their knees.

Reporters Without Borders in Turkey tweeted in support of Kilic, demanding his immediate release. AFP reported Kilic had been released later in the evening.

Authorities in Instanbul have banned Pride events since 2014 when 100,000 showed up for the festivities. Officials say “public safety” was a concern.

It’s been a rough year for LGBTQ advocates in Turkey as elected officials have grown more and more vocal in their opposition to queer communities. “There is no such thing as LGBT,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in February during an address to his party. “This country is national, spiritual and walking toward the future with these values.” In March, Erdoğan abandoned the landmark Instanbul Convention because it “normalizes homosexuality.”

Posted on

Netflix Cancels New Series After Turkey Urges Removing Gay Character

Officials in Turkey reportedly pressured Netflix to remove a gay character from its new series titled, If Only, and so the streaming platform canceled the project. From Deadline:

The eight-part relationship drama was announced in March and was set to be made by Turkish production outfit Ay Yapim, with screen star Özge Özpirinçci leading the cast. But Netflix has scrapped the plans after producers were refused a filming license because of the existence of a gay character.

Per a translation in the Financial Times, If Only’s creator Ece Yörenç told Turkish film website Altyazi Fasikul: “Due to a gay character, permission to film the series was not granted and this is very frightening for the future.”

Responding to a request for comment from the FT, a spokesman for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party acknowledged that concerns were raised about If Only. Deadline understands that rather than caving to creative changes, Netflix decided to abandon the project.

Netflix hasn’t commented on the issue directly, but a spokesman told Deadline the streaming platform “remains deeply committed to our Turkish members and the creative community in Turkey.” “We currently have several Turkish originals in production — with more to come — and look forward to sharing these stories with our members all around the world,” added the spokesman. No word on if any of those other shows in production have LGBTQ characters or storylines. Turkey is one of the more liberal countries in the Middle East. While homosexuality isn’t illegal, same-sex marriage is. Additionally, there are no legal protections for LGBTQ people in the areas of housing, adoption or employment, and gay Turkish citizens are no allowed to serve openly in the military. Özpirinçci posted a photo on Instagram over the weekend from the set with a rainbow series of hearts.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤍🤎

A post shared by Ozge Ozpirincci (@ozpirincci) on

Posted on

Trump’s 1,000th Day In Office Was One For The Books

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi addresses Donald Trump at the White House (public domain)
Donald Trump’s 1,000th day in the White House was certainly one for the history books. Via Axios: A one-page letter from Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (read it below) sounded fake when it first surfaced on Twitter, but was real: “Let’s work out a good deal! You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will. … Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool! I will call you later.”
(click image to enlarge)
During a meeting with the congressional leadership in the Cabinet room, according to a senior Democratic aide who provided a readout, Trump declared that Jim Mattis, a four-star Marine general and Trump’s first defense secretary, was “the world’s most overrated general. … You know why? He wasn’t tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month.” Axios reports that Trump told Pelosi: “President Obama drew a red line in the sand. In my opinion, you are a third-grade politician.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said: “This is not useful.” Pelosi and Hoyer stood and left the meeting. Afterward, Pelosi told reporters as she was leaving the White House: “What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown — sad to say.”

In response, Trump tweeted: “Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her ‘upstairs,’ or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!” The Donald also tweeted a photo of Pelosi standing amid the room full of men. It was meant to ridicule her, but the move backfired. Standing in a bold blue suit with all the men seated, she was clearly the most powerful person in the photo.

Pelosi responded to Trump’s tweet by making the photo her profile pic on Twitter. Also – the House voted 354-60 to condemn Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. That included 129 Republicans voting with the Democrats. Quite the day, huh? So. Much. Winning.

Posted on

Defense Sec Defends ‘Deliberate Withdrawal’ From Syria Ordered By Trump

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Fox News
During an appearance on Fox News ‘Face The Nation,’ Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Chris Wallace the United States is  “preparing a deliberate withdrawal” of about 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria “as safely and quickly as possible.” The move comes a week after Donald Trump announced the shifting of American troops embedded with Kurdish forces in northern Syria, a move that opened the door for Turkish forces to move against the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF). The SDF has been the United States’ primary allies in the fight against ISIS.

Republicans and Democrats agree only bad will come from this ‘deliberate withdrawal.’ Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a military veteran, said this on CBS’ Face The Nation:

And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) agreed with his colleague from across the aisle: