The administration of the İstanbul-based Boğaziçi University has banned the screening of a movie about the families of LGBT children on the university campus, the Cumhuriyet daily reported.
“Benim Çocuğum” (My Child) was to be shown by the university cinema club on Tuesday, when it was prohibited by the administration.
The cinema club said it had earlier received permission from the administration to screen the movie but that it was banned two hours before starting time.
When students from the club asked for an explanation from the university about its decision, they were told that just as the movie was not allowed to be screened before, it would not be allowed again.
The movie was directed by Can Candan, a lecturer at the university who had been fired following the appointment of a controversial rector by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in August 2021.
Can, who challenged his dismissal in court, was reinstated at the university in March 2022 by court order.
The cinema club called the administration’s decision to prohibit the screening of the movie “homophobic censorship,” urging the student body to fight against it.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, but homophobia is widespread. LGBT individuals are frequently accused of perversion and ruining family values by conservatives, President Erdoğan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Boğaziçi University has been the scene of protests by students and academics since a pro-government rector, Professor Melih Bulu, was appointed in January 2021.
Bulu was replaced by Professor Naci İnci, another pro-government administrator, in August 2021.
Erdoğan is accused by critics of trying to eliminate academic freedom in the country by appointing figures close to his government as university rectors, dismissing academics who criticize his policies and replacing them with pro-government figures.