Türkiye claims "moral standards" and prevents LGBT cruise ships from docking in ports

Turkey authorities have banned a cruise aimed at American LGBTQ+ travelers from docking in the country's ports, citing "moral standards" and "family values", said the CEO of the events company responsible for the Mediterranean cruise, on Thursday (2).

The "Athens to Venice" cruise, departing Greece on July 5, was scheduled to dock in the vibrant Turkish port city of Kuşadası two days later, followed by a trip to Istanbul, according to trip organizer Atlantis Events.

But, in a controversial decision, local authorities in Turkey announced the cancellation of the event, alleging that the ship - which was due to receive more than a thousand passengers from the United States - was chartered by groups "known for behavior incompatible with the values of our society and our morals".

The vessel, called Scarlet Lady, belongs to Virgin Voyages, a cruise company backed by Richard Branson, according to monitoring website MarineTraffic. Atlantis Events said the ship will now call in Cairo, Egypt, and the Greek island of Crete instead of Türkiye.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's AKP Party has adopted increasingly aggressive rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community over the past decade, drawing condemnation from human rights groups.

Authorities have banned Pride parades in Istanbul since 2015, citing public safety concerns.

"It's quite surprising, to be honest. I mean, the reason is it's a gay group," Rich Campbell, president and CEO of Atlantis Events, told CNN about Turkey's decision to block cruise visits.

"It's very worrying to me when a country decides it can choose which tourists can come in and which can't," he added.

Campbell said this was the first time in 36 years that the company had been "actively told that we may not be able to be here because of who we are."

CNN has contacted Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Turkish embassy in Washington and Virgin Voyages for comment.

Approximately 1,100 of the 1,900 passengers expected on the trip are from the United States, according to Campbell. The remaining travelers are from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, among other countries.

Ten-day trip
The Atlantis website describes the ten-day trip as an "epic adventure" that allows "great friends" to explore Mediterranean islands, including sunny destinations like the Greek islands and Croatia.

Authorities in the Turkish province of Aydın, where the port of Kuşadası is located, stated that there is "absolutely no possibility for the group in question to visit our province for an event of this nature."

Meanwhile, authorities in Istanbul reported that police had carried out a raid on a bar in the city after an "Atlantis brochure" advertised a party there. Campbell stated that the brochure was not from Atlantis nor had any ties to the company.

"We are not a political organization. We are not there for anything other than to spend money, have fun, go on tours and treat every culture we visit with extreme respect," Campbell added.

Atlantis communicated the news to passengers on Thursday (2), stating that "due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to change the ports on our itinerary to exclude the two stops in Turkey", as these stops had been canceled by the Turkish authorities.

Source: CNN