ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris as a “disgusting” attack on humanity’s sacred values, saying it was an insult to the Christian world and an imposition of the “LGBT lobby”.
Some Christian groups and conservative politicians have said they were angered by a segment of the opening ceremony showing a kitsch scene which appeared to parody Leonardo da Vinci’s famous “Last Supper” painting of Jesus Christ and his disciples.
Paris 2024 organisers have apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups upset by the tableau and said there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group, but rather to celebrate tolerance.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director behind the opening ceremony, said the scene had not been inspired by “The Last Supper” and depicted a pagan feast linked to the gods of Olympus.
Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) in Ankara that the Olympics had opened “with animosity towards humanity, creation, and the values that make humans human”.
He said he would call Pope Francis “at the first opportunity” to discuss the offence to Christians, and said more leaders should be speaking up against what he called an “open attack on what is sacred”.
Erdogan also said the Olympics opening ceremony marked an imposition by the “LGBT lobby”, which he said had taken Europe and the West “hostage” through a “global atmosphere of fear”.
Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AKP have toughened their stance towards the LGBTQ community in recent months, particularly while campaigning for last year’s elections.
Homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey, but hostility to it is widespread, and police crackdowns on Pride parades have become tougher over the years.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Alexandra Hudson)
