Turkey bans gay pride marches in Istanbul

Turkish authorities have banned an annual gay pride parade scheduled later this month after an ultra-nationalist youth group threatened violence during the march.

The Istanbul governor's office announced Friday, June 17 the cancellation of a gay pride parade set Sunday, June 26 after hardliners announced threats of disrupting security.

Two days before the ban was announced, the youth group Alperen Hearths had issued the threats, as reported by Al Jazeera.

"Dear state officials, do not make us deal with these. Either you do what is needed or we will do it," head of Alperen Hearths, Kustan Mican, told reporters.

The hardliners also said, "Degenerates will not be allowed to carry out their fantasies on this land ... We're not responsible for what will happen after this point."

They even quoted a Turkish proverb that says, "If you're not taught by experience, you're taught by a beating."

The event's organizers, Pride Week Commission, denounced the ban as a "flagrant violation of the constitution and the law."

Sunday's gay pride march is supposed to be the culmination after a week of events. It starts in the touristy shopping street Istiklal Caddesi and ends in Taksim Square. Dubbed as the largest Pride event in the Muslim world, the annual march has been held since 2003 but was interrupted only last year by police hours before it was scheduled to start.

"Last year's ban caused tens of people to be injured," Pride Week Commission said in a statement posted on Facebook. "The violence incurred is on record and has received worldwide attention."

The police chased away the parade participants with water cannon and rubber pellets after it was announced that the parade was not allowed to continue because it fell on the holy month of Ramadan.

Homosexuality is legal in Turkey since the Ottoman Empire during mid-19th century. However, homosexuality is still largely discriminated and frowned upon by the predominantly conservative Muslim country.

After the Orlando mass shooting incident that happened on June 12 where a gunman attacked the Pulse gay nightclub, killed 49 and injured 53, a conservative newspaper Yeni Akit released a headline the next day, saying "50 pervert gays killed in a bar."