Latest news with #AyseBarim
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top director Akin slams Turkey's 'mobster' leaders over arrests
Acclaimed film director Fatih Akin said he fears ending up behind bars if he returns to Turkey, with his manager there in jail accused of attempting to overthrow the government. The Turkish-German auteur -- a hero to many in the country for films like "Head-On", "In the Fade" and the Istanbul music documentary "Crossing the Bridge" -- told AFP late Friday that agent Ayse Barim is "totally apolitical and innocent" of the charges, which relate to protests 12 years ago. "If they put her in prison, what the hell is going on?" Akin asked. "So I better not go there. I don't want to take the risk." Barim, 56, who was arrested in January, denied helping to organise the 2013 Gezi protests which shook the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying she only attended the protests to accompany her clients, some of Turkey's most famous stars. Prosecutors accused her of "pushing" her actors to take part, a claim she denies. A small demonstration to save some trees in a park in central Istanbul spiralled into nationwide anti-government protests that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets. Hamburg-born Akin, whose new film "Amrun" premiered at the Cannes film festival, said "officially there is no warrant for me". "But to be honest, I don't know," he added, saying anything was possible as Turkey was being run by "mobsters". "They have other values, it's shocking," he said. - Opposition silenced - "Certain politicians are not even afraid to go to war if this helps them to stay in power. And Erdogan is one of them," he added. Turkey has been hit by the biggest wave of protests since Gezi since the arrest in March of Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges. The popular mayor is Erdogan's biggest political rival, with the opposition and rights groups saying he was locked up to stop him running against the president in elections next year. Nearly 2,000 people, including journalists, have been arrested in the crackdown on dissent since, with Imamoglu's X account blocked. Akin, whose family comes from the Black Sea region like Erdogan's, said part of the "nonsense" case against Barim is that "she had talked 39 times" with jailed liberal philanthropist Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2022. "Those 39 times were because of my film 'The Cut'(which touched on the Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians) because Kavala financed part of it and she's managing me. So they talked because of me and both are now in prison. I'm the connecting point," he said. Barim was about as far from an activist as you could imagine, he added. "She's an agent, a talent manager -- a neo-liberal capitalist for heaven's sake." The Golden Globe and Golden Bear winner, 51, said he suspected Turkish prosecutors would try to pretend that he was also "part of the gang" plotting to overthrow Erdogan. "A lot of people are proud of me" for showcasing Turkish culture and the diaspora, "but these people don't care about that", Akin added. Turkish authorities regularly target journalists, lawyers, celebrities and elected political representatives, especially since a failed 2016 coup against the government. bur-fg/ah/cw
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
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. bg/ach/fo/js
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey arrests talent manager over trying to overthrow the government
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court arrested a well-known talent manager over the charge of attempting to overthrow the government in an investigation connected to nationwide protests in 2013, a court document seen by Reuters showed. Ayse Barim was initially detained on Friday and eight actors were summoned to give statements to the court as witnesses in her file. According to her statement to the prosecutor, Barim denied the charges and said she had been to the area of the 2013 protests a few times individually as an observer and to accompany the people she worked with. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Barim denied the charges and said she did not coordinate actors she is working with or request them to support the protests, the court document showed. "My job as a manager is to manage the career of the actors I work with and represent them in the best possible way. These artists have their own ideas, wills and decisions. I did not organize anything by directing their ideas," Barim said, according to transcript of her statement. In 2013, small demonstrations against plans to build a shopping mall in Gezi Park, in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, swelled into hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the government nationwide - and prompted a harsh crackdown. According to the court, Barim had "intensive communication" with defendants in the Gezi Park trial at the time of the protests. These defendants include businessman Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April 2022. Kavala has faced various charges, including espionage, financing the Gezi Park protests and involvement in a failed coup against Erdogan's government in 2016. He has been in prison since November 2017. Human rights groups say 11 people were killed and more than 8,000 injured in the state response, and more than 3,000 were arrested. President Tayyip Erdogan's government said the crackdown was warranted given threats to the state, and he has called the protesters "looters" who were partly funded from abroad, a claim denied by defendants and civil society groups.
Reuters
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Turkey arrests talent manager over trying to overthrow the government
ISTANBUL, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A Turkish court arrested a well-known talent manager over the charge of attempting to overthrow the government in an investigation connected to nationwide protests in 2013, a court document seen by Reuters showed. Ayse Barim was initially detained on Friday and eight actors were summoned to give statements to the court as witnesses in her file. According to her statement to the prosecutor, Barim denied the charges and said she had been to the area of the 2013 protests a few times individually as an observer and to accompany the people she worked with. Barim denied the charges and said she did not coordinate actors she is working with or request them to support the protests, the court document showed. "My job as a manager is to manage the career of the actors I work with and represent them in the best possible way. These artists have their own ideas, wills and decisions. I did not organize anything by directing their ideas," Barim said, according to transcript of her statement. In 2013, small demonstrations against plans to build a shopping mall in Gezi Park, in Istanbul's central Taksim Square, swelled into hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the government nationwide - and prompted a harsh crackdown. According to the court, Barim had "intensive communication" with defendants in the Gezi Park trial at the time of the protests. These defendants include businessman Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April 2022. Kavala has faced various charges, including espionage, financing the Gezi Park protests and involvement in a failed coup against Erdogan's government in 2016. He has been in prison since November 2017. Human rights groups say 11 people were killed and more than 8,000 injured in the state response, and more than 3,000 were arrested. President Tayyip Erdogan's government said the crackdown was warranted given threats to the state, and he has called the protesters "looters" who were partly funded from abroad, a claim denied by defendants and civil society groups.
