Turkish Authorities Clamp Down on LGBTQ+ Exhibition
By Annette Meier
Installation view of "Turn and See Back: Revisiting Trans Revolutions in Turkey" at Depo, Istanbul. Via Kaos GL.
Istanbul municipal authorities have banned an exhibition celebrating the country’s transgender history and community. The show, titled “Turn and See Back: Revisiting Trans Revolutions in Turkey,” opened on June 26 and was set to run through July 27 at the nonprofit space Depo in Istanbul. However, Istanbul’s Beyoğlu District Governorate issued an order on July 11 demanding the exhibition’s immediate closure as it “incited the public to hatred.”
“Turn and See Back” was organized by the 10th Trans Pride Week Exhibition Collective and featured newspaper clippings, protest signs, videos, and photographs documenting the decades-long struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in Turkey. The injunction is one of many restrictions on the LGBTQ+ community, including the ban on the Istanbul Pride parade since 2015, once the largest in the Muslim world. Although organizers did not reveal the locations of this year’s Pride march for safety reasons, participants encountered heavy police presence and citywide lockdowns on roadways and public transportation.
In defiance of Turkey’s populist president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s labeling of LGBTQ+ individuals as “deviant,” the exhibition sought to humanize and honor the transgender community. Speaking with The Art Newspaper, the show’s co-curator Jiyan Andiç stated: “Calling people ‘illegal’ is part of a process that now aims to dehumanize and criminalize LGBTQ+ people. This exhibition was a way of saying: ‘We are not a threat, perverts or groups managed from abroad, but we have always been here.’”
According to Kültigin Kağan Akbulut, editor of the online art journal Argonotlar, this is the first outright ban of an art show in Turkey in at least a decade: “In Turkey, censorship in art typically happens beforehand through self-censorship. Because Istanbul Pride is being monitored, all it takes is one social media post to make it onto the state’s radar . . . Depo is also marked because of its association with Osman Kavala.”
In 2017, the Turkish government arrested Depo’s founder Osman Kavala, accusing him of attempting to overthrow the government during the 2013 Gezi Park protests as well as through the failed military coup in 2016. After more than four years of detention and an acquittal, the 66-year-old businessman and philanthropist was sentenced to life in prison in 2022, despite a binding order from the European Court of Human Rights that he be freed.
Although the exhibition was promoted by word of mouth to circumvent backlash, hundreds of visitors showed up during the two weeks it was on view. Despite its proximity to famous tourist sites, Depo is located in a working-class neighborhood of Beyoğlu where more religiously conservative values hold sway and there is strong resistance to the encroachment of gentrification and secular lifestyles. Following the district governor’s mandate to shut down the exhibition, the Depo team announced on social media that they will appeal the ban. However, considering sweeping government restrictions on other LGBTQ+ events, Depo is not optimistic that their appeal will be successful.
Annette Meier is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.
