Kusturica quits Antalya film festival after supporting genocide towards Muslims

 The move comes ater several groups in Turkey protested Kusturica saying that he supported genocide towards Muslims by Serbians in Bosnia.

Emir Kusturica said on Sunday that he withdrew from jury membership of the 47th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival after growing protests in Turkey.

The move comes ater several groups in Turkey protested Kusturica saying that he supported genocide towards Muslims by Serbians in Bosnia.

Award winner Turkish director boycotted the film festival. Semih Kaplanoglu, director of Golden Bear award-winner movie "Bal", said, "Our conscience hurts when AKSAV (Antalya Culture and Art Foundation) management supports an "artist" who defends these crimes. We are not criticizing anyone's ethnic origin or belief. We refuse to defend a mentality that legalizes a crime against humanity, genocide and rape by justifing verbally. The only criteria to unite us against the war and war crimes is human identity. Artists are inseparable from humanity."

Bosnian descent Serbian director Kusturica gave a news conference and said he also cancelled a workshop with students in southern province of Antalya. He noted he would leave from Turkey after the news conference.