STANBUL, Turkey, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The Turkish government has approved the showing of "Ararat," an anti-Turkish film steeped in controversy, to prove the country's newfound democracy.
"Ararat," released in 2002 by Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan, depicts the brutal expulsion in 1915 of Armenians from what is now eastern Turkey. Discussing the 1915 massacres has long been taboo throughout Turkey, according to Tuesday's New York Times.
"Those who want to see the film can go," said Erkan Mumcu, minister of culture and tourism. Showing the film would "prove that Turkey is a democratic country," he said.
Turkey is beginning to loosen former speech restrictions in hopes of gaining approval for European Union membership.
After Mumcu's decision to allow "Ararat" to be shown, however, an extreme nationalist group, the youth wing of the Nationalist Action Party, threatened to attack any theater where it was shown. That led the distributor to "indefinitely postpone" plans to release the film in Turkey, said Sabahattin Cetin, the film's distributor.
The film, starring Christopher Plummer, was first shown at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
