Culture and Tourism Ministry withdraws from Golden Orange

ANKARA

The Culture and Tourism Ministry announced yesterday that it withdrew from the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival due to the discussions on the film “Kanun Hükmü” (The Decree) in the National Feature Documentary Competition section of the festival.

The 60th edition of the festival, which is organized in the southern province of Antalya, is set to run from Oct. 7 to 14.

“Our ministry will not be a part of the effort to discredit the epic struggle of our beloved nation on July 15 and to use art as an element of provocation. It is regrettable that the propaganda for the FETÖ terrorist organization is made through the perception of victimization in such an important festival.” 

The FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader, Fetullah Gülen, orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 wounded.

The film focuses on a teacher and doctor dismissed from their jobs under the state of emergency in Türkiye following the attempted coup on July 15, 2016.

Festival director Ahmet Boyacıoğlu said the documentary film had been removed from the national documentary film category because of ongoing legal proceedings against one of the people featured in the film.

“For this reason, it has been decided to exclude the film from this year’s selection in order not to affect the judicial process and impartiality,” he said.

However, the film’s director, Nejla Demirci, said that was an “excuse” and “outright censorship.”

Demirci has received support from across the arts world in Türkiye.

The Free Art Assembly, which represents artists across many fields, described the film’s exclusion as “an assault on artistic expression and creativity and a move to normalize censorship across artistic fields.”

Twenty members of the festival, the producers and directors of 27 entries at the festival also announced that they have pulled out.

“We do not accept this view that seeks to identify criminal elements in films and normalize censorship measures. The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, which has been running for many years, belongs to society through a broad consensus. It can not compromise democratic principles and freedom of expression. In this context, it is vital that it continues to be safe space for artists. … As the undersigned jury members, we hereby announce to the public that we will fulfill our duties at the festival only if the film ‘Kanun Hükmü’ is reinstated in the Documentary Competition selection,” they said in a statement.

Following these developments, the festival management included the film in the selection again yesterday.