Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has condemned Eurovision 2024, calling the winning performance a sign of cultural degeneration.
Bahçeli took aim at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 during his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday. Bahçeli described the event as a sign of moral and cultural decay and criticized the performance of Swiss artist Nemo in particular.
Nemo, a 24-year-old non-binary musician, won the competition in Malmö, Sweden, by performing in a jacket with feathers and a pink satin skirt. Bahçeli described the outfit as the “confirmation of a shameful degeneration.”
“The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, in which 25 countries took part, documented the threat to humanity without needing many words,” said Bahçeli.
“The competition, which is more political than artistic, has turned into a propaganda platform for moral collapse. The emergence of a third gender that stands between man and woman shows the extent of the decay.”
Bahçeli criticized the West for promoting “marginalization” and claimed that the cultural structure of Western societies is rotting.
“If you call this modernity, then we say, down with this modernity. If it is called progress, then we declare it null and void. In the new century, we will seek modernity and progress within our own being and our own values.”
Nemo’s victory drew cheers from Swiss non-binary rights advocates, who called on the Swiss government to officially recognize non-binary people. The song “The Code,” with which the artist won the competition, describes their journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person.
Nemo’s victory comes amid ongoing debates in Switzerland over the official recognition of non-binary genders. A recent legislative proposal for such recognition was rejected on the grounds that the binary gender model remains firmly entrenched in Swiss society.
The Green Liberal Party and other non-binary gender advocates hailed Nemo’s success as a triumph for non-binary visibility. However, a 2023 survey showed that 62 percent of the Swiss population opposed the introduction of a third gender designation on official documents.
Turkey has not participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2012, boycotting the event over the inclusion of LGBT performers.
Turkey’s far-right and Islamist politicians use highly defamatory discourse against the LGBT community, with Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians frequently accusing them of threatening traditional family values.
According to a report by LGBT advocacy group KAOS GL, the country’s LGBT community feels threatened under the AKP government.
Turkey was ranked 48th among 49 countries as regards the human rights of LGBT people, according to the 2023 Rainbow Europe Map published by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)-Europe.
In 2021, the government withdrew from the Istanbul Convention on protecting women’s rights, claiming it encouraged homosexuality and threatened the traditional family structure.
Throughout 2023 the government banned nearly all events organized by the LGBTI+ community and sent police to detain the attendees.