Turkey Bans LGBTQ+ Cruise Ship, Citing 'Moral Values'

Turkish authorities have banned a cruise ship carrying members of the LGBTQ+ community from the United States from docking at two of the country’s ports, citing the need to uphold ‘moral standards’ and ‘family values’.

The Scarlet Lady, operated by Virgin Voyages and chartered by Atlantis Events, was scheduled to depart Greece on 5 July for an ‘Athens to Venice’ voyage. The ship was due to call at the port city of Kuşadası on 7 July before continuing to Istanbul.

However, local authorities cancelled the berthing permit, arguing the vessel was chartered by a group known for behaviour deemed incompatible with Turkey’s social order and moral values. Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell described the decision as shocking.

‘The reason given was because it is a gay group. It is very concerning when a country decides it can pick and choose which tourists are allowed in and which are not,’ he said.

Campbell stated that in his company’s 36 years of operation, this was the first time they had been directly informed they could not dock solely because of the passengers’ identities. As a result of the ban, Atlantis Events altered the cruise itinerary. The ship will no longer stop in Turkey and will instead dock in Cairo, Egypt, and the Greek island of Crete.

Approximately 1,900 holidaymakers were scheduled to join the 10-day voyage. Of that number, around 1,100 are from the United States, with the remainder hailing from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and several other countries.

One passenger, journalist Randy Slovacek, said he had previously visited Turkey on an Atlantis cruise without any issues. ‘There was never a problem at all. But suddenly now they are making an issue of it. We are just a group of people who want to travel the world and visit different places,’ he said. He also assessed that the Turkish government’s decision ultimately harms local businesses, which lose potential revenue from thousands of cruise ship tourists.

Meanwhile, the provincial government of Aydin, where Kuşadası Port is located, confirmed there was no possibility the group would be permitted to hold activities in its territory. In Istanbul, police were also reported to have raided a bar after flyers circulated advertising a party linked to Atlantis. However, Campbell confirmed the flyers were neither published by nor affiliated with his company.

In recent years, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has increasingly voiced its rejection of the LGBTQ+ community. The Turkish government has also banned Pride parades in Istanbul since 2015, citing security and public order concerns.