Turkey’s oldest movie competition has been canceled amid controversy surrounding a politically delicate documentary concerning the aftermath of a 2016 coup try.

Antalya Mayor Muhittin Bocek introduced the cancellation of the town’s Golden Orange Film Festival on Friday evening, a day after the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry withdrew its help for the occasion.

The ministry objected to the movie “Kanun Hükmü” or “The Decree,” a documentary which focuses on the hardships of a trainer and a health care provider who have been dismissed from their jobs following an tried coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016.

“It is extremely sad that in such an important festival, the power of art is used to make propaganda for the FETO terrorist organization through the perception of victimhood,” the Culture Ministry mentioned in a press release.

FETO is an acronym the Turkish authorities makes use of for a motion led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the federal government blames for the failed coup. Gulen denies any involvement. More than 130,000 alleged Gulen supporters in Turkey have been fired from their jobs underneath emergency decrees declared after the navy rebellion.

The ministry mentioned that it will “not be part of the effort to discredit the epic struggle of our beloved nation on July 15 and to use art as an element of provocation.”

In a video posted on X, the platform previously generally known as Twitter, Bocek, a member of Turkey’s opposition occasion, blamed the competition’s directors and inventive staff for mishandling the controversy and never partaking in disaster administration.

“Due to the mess created by their own hand,” the competition administration, inventive director and the complete inventive staff have been fired, he mentioned.

“Nobody should doubt that I will not allow our festival to be used for anyone’s political agenda,” the mayor mentioned. Critics have alleged the post-coup terminations and arrests represented a normal crackdown in opposition to anybody seen as its opponents. The documetary’s director Nejla Demirci wrote on X Friday night: “I am saddened to see, day by day, how negative attitudes have organized against a documentary film. I am baffled by the statements of ministers who have not seen the film,” she wrote, inviting all her critics to look at it.

Organizers had mentioned they might take away “The Decree” from the movie competition program. Festival director Ahmet Boyacioglu initially introduced the movie was faraway from the nationwide documentary class resulting from ongoing authorized proceedings in opposition to one of many folks featured.

But Demirci, mentioned that was an excuse and “outright censorship.” Twenty members of the competition jury give up in protest on the movie getting pulled. On Wednesday the producers and administrators of 27 competition entries mentioned they have been withdrawing from the occasion.

The movie was later reinstated to this system after it was found that the trial of the featured individual had ended.

The competition, which has run since 1963 within the Mediterranean metropolis of Antalya, is a spotlight of the Turkish cultural calendar. This 12 months it was scheduled to run Oct. 7-14.

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