Turkey's actors, artists under pressure as govt turns up the heat
Ayse Barim, a renowned manager of Turkish television stars, has always steered clear of politics, but that did not help her escape prison on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government".
Barim, put into pre-trial detention on Monday, joined a long list of personalities being prosecuted by the authorities, a move denounced by opposition parties that accuse the government of using the judiciary to intimidate dissidents.
The charges against Barim date back to 2013 when protests started over the government's urbanisation plans of Gezi park in the heart of Istanbul. Prosecutors accuse her of "pushing" her actors to take part in anti-government demos, a claim she denies.
Famous actors including Halit Ergenc, star of the world-famous Turkish series "The Magnificent Century", are also under judicial scrutiny as part of the same probe.
Ergenc was summoned for questioning last Friday.
For Mehmet Esen, actor and former president of the Turkish Film Workers' Union, it is an attempt to put a stranglehold on the cultural sector, one of the few realms not entirely controlled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conservative government.
"Artists have great influence in Turkey. What's more, most of them are dissidents. They take a stand against injustice. It's clear that the government wants to break that," Esen said.
- Power struggle -
Speeches delivered by artists at film festival ceremonies, or the scripts of some Turkish TV series that break audience records, are often critical of the government and touch on pressing issues in society including women's rights or the polarisation between conservatives and secularists.
"The cultural sphere has become an area of power struggle between the opposition and the government," said Goksel Aymaz, a sociologist at Marmara University in Istanbul.
According to Aymaz, even if Barim was not politically engaged, this did not prevent the government from deeming her "a force" behind the Gezi protests.
"As long as she's a prominent figure in the series sector, it doesn't matter whether she's politicised or not," he said.
"The government's aim is to reshape the industry by imposing its own influence, in order to perpetuate its power."
-Istanbul mayor targeted-
Turkish authorities regularly target journalists, lawyers and elected political representatives, especially since the failed 2016 coup against the government.
In mid-January, prosecutors opened an investigation against the Istanbul Bar Association on charges of "spreading terrorist propaganda", accusing it of links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
The probe was opened because lawyers had called for an investigation into the death of two Turkish Kurdish journalists in Syria in late December, in an area where Kurdish fighters were operating.
Since local elections in March last year, 10 opposition mayors have also been arrested, removed from office and replaced by government-appointed administrators.
And on Tuesday, three journalists from the opposition TV station Halk TV were arrested for broadcasting an interview with a forensic expert in an investigation into Istanbul's popular Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Two of them were released under judicial control Wednesday.
Imamoglu, Erdogan's main political rival, was summoned to appear before the public prosecutor on Friday, even though he is already the target of numerous other legal proceedings.
According to observers, the investigation targeting the television sector could also be aimed at Imamoglu, who was re-elected with fanfare as mayor of Turkey's largest city.
Pro-government daily Yeni Safak has already accused Barim of using her influence to support the mayor.
"The power of justice is being abused to spread fear in all strata of society. We are not afraid and we will not remain silent", Imamoglu commented on X.
His main opposition CHP party also denounced what it described as a "climate of fear".
"The government is trying to discourage civil society by showing that it can neutralise the journalists or politicians it trusts," political scientist Mesut Yegen said on the private broadcaster Ilke TV on Tuesday.
"Thus it is trying to prevent any street movement that might lead to a call for early elections," he said.
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