Turkey refuses to allow 2,000 LGBTQIA+ cruise ship passengers to disembark, citing “moral standards”

Turkish authorities refused at the last minute to allow a cruise ship specifically accommodating members of the LGBTQIA+ community to disembark. This came as a shock to its 2,000 passengers, including 58-year-old Belgian man Jan de Wieuw. “Some people have wild ideas about what’s going on here on board,” the Antwerp resident commented from his cabin. The ship has now been diverted to Egypt.

In early July, nearly 2,000 cruise passengers from 50 different countries embarked in Athens on the Scarlet Lady, an ultramodern ship belonging to the Virgin Voyages company. The concept of their trip: to explore the Mediterranean on a ten-day “100% gay cruise,” for approximately 2,500 euros per person, all-inclusive.

The American company has been offering this LGBTQIA+ program for 36 years, and this was the second time Jan de Wieuw had participated with her husband, Danny Kayser. Last year, the couple traveled to the Caribbean. “There too, our destination was changed at the last minute, but that was solely due to weather conditions. It wasn't about something as sensitive as today's issue.”

The program offered by the tour operator Atlantis Events includes sun, sea, entertainment and stopovers, notably in the Turkish coastal city of Kuşadası and in the bustling city of Istanbul.

These were stopovers that the cruise passengers had to forgo. Two days before their scheduled arrival in Turkey, they learned on CNN that the provincial authorities of Aydın, the province to which Kuşadası belongs, had opposed their port call. An official statement indicated that several people on board the ship were “known for their behavior contrary to the structure of our society,” while also invoking “moral standards” and “family values.” According to local authorities, the arrival of the cruise ship would cause too much unrest among the local population. “Therefore, it is out of the question for this group to enter our province.”