It has been claimed that Turkish Airlines translated the word homosexual as ‘perverse’ and ‘weird’ in its subtitles for in-flight foreign TV series and movies.

Source: Gonca Tokyol, “Türk Hava Yolları, Türkçe altyazıda eşcinselleri ‘sapkın’ ve ‘tuhaf’ yaptı” T24, 3 January 2018, http://t24.com.tr/haber/turk-hava-yollari-turkce-altyazida-escinselleri-sapkin-ve-tuhaf-yapti,526894

This claim first surfaced when a passenger shared a picture of a scene in which the word ‘perverse’ was used in reference to homosexuals on social media outlet Twitter. This mistranslation was spotted on one of the in-flight interactive screens on a flight by Turkish Airlines, one of the largest commercial airlines in the world in terms of passengers carried.

The passenger, who was travelling on flight TK824 to Beirut on Dec. 29, shared the tweet with the caption: “You [Turkish Airlines] translated the word ‘gay’ as ‘perverted’ in the TV series Modern Family. I hope you fix this rudeness as soon as possible.”

Another Twitter user named Çağla Bakaç responded by highlighting that a similar situation had occurred to her in the past. Bakaç shared a picture from another movie and said “There was a similar situation in the subtitles for the movie ‘Demolition’. They translated the word ‘gay’ as ‘weird’.”

Turkish Airlines: The Relevant Department Has Been Notified

The Turkish Airlines press secretary reached by T24 said that the company was aware of reports made on social media and that the relevant department had been notified in accordance.