By Bosphorus News Türkiye Desk
Atlantis Events said Turkish authorities barred its LGBTQ-focused Scarlet Lady cruise from calling at Kuşadası and İstanbul days before NATO leaders arrive in Ankara, while Aydın officials cited "moral values" in confirming the Kuşadası cancellation.
The decision forced Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady to remove Türkiye from its July 5-15 itinerary and replace the Turkish calls with Alexandria, including Cairo tours, and Heraklion, Crete. Atlantis Events said Turkish authorities informed the company that the ship would not be permitted to dock in either Kuşadası or İstanbul.
Aydın Governor Osman Varol said in a written statement that a ship chartered by groups "known for behaviours incompatible with the structure of our society and our moral values" had been scheduled to call at Kuşadası on July 7. He said the organization had been cancelled and that "the group in question coming to our province with such an organization is absolutely out of the question."
The governor's statement also said the cancelled call was an individual organization and had no connection with other cruise activity in Kuşadası. Regular tourism and cruise visits to the district would continue, the statement said.
Atlantis markets the sailing as a Mediterranean gay cruise from Athens to Venice, built around entertainment, parties and port visits aboard Scarlet Lady. The company said the itinerary had been planned for more than a year and that it had previously operated in Türkiye without similar restrictions.
Atlantis President and Chief Executive Officer Rich Campbell told CNN that the sailing had about 1,900 guests, including roughly 1,100 Americans, along with passengers from Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries. He said Atlantis had visited Türkiye 13 times since 2000 with about 25,000 guests.
Campbell said the Turkish decision was the first such case in the company's 36-year history.
"We are there to travel. We are not a political organization," he told CNN, adding that it was troubling for a country to decide which tourists it would or would not accept.
CNN reporting cited Campbell as saying İstanbul authorities had raided a bar after referring to an "Atlantis brochure," which he said was not produced by or connected to the company.
Bosphorus News did not find a separate public statement from the İstanbul Governor's Office on the Scarlet Lady decision. The İstanbul cancellation is therefore attributed to Atlantis Events and CNN reporting, while the Kuşadası decision is supported by the Aydın Governor's written statement.
The episode quickly moved through U.S. and European travel, entertainment and rights-focused media, placing the ban inside a wider debate over LGBTQ rights, tourism access and Türkiye's public-order climate before the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara.
The timing gives the case additional weight. Türkiye is preparing to host allied leaders as the Ankara Governor's Office has imposed a broad ban on public assemblies until July 10 under summit security measures. Bosphorus News has reported the security lockdown around the Ankara summit, including expanded controls, traffic restrictions and security deployments in the capital.
The Scarlet Lady decision puts two Türkiye stories into the same week. Ankara is presenting itself as a central NATO military and diplomatic actor, while the cruise ban has pushed LGBTQ rights, selective port access and pre-summit restrictions into the Western-media cycle.
Sources: Atlantis Events, Aydın Governor's Office statement, CNN reporting cited by People, Associated Press, Amnesty International, Bosphorus News review and reporting.