Latest news with #Gezi
eNCA
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- eNCA
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 that shook the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- who was prime minister at the time -- 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 in 2028. 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. By Fiachra Gibbons
France 24
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Top director Akin slams Turkey's 'mobster' leaders over arrests
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.
Int'l Business Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
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. "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.
Japan Times
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
In Turkey, new technologies reinforce repression
With anti-government protests sweeping across Turkey, the authorities have used all technological means to try to curb them, from restricting internet access to using facial recognition to identify protesters, who have been forced to adapt. Amid a ban on protests, nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations that erupted on March 19 following the detention of Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on graft charges. As well as those apprehended in the streets, many others have been arrested in predawn raids at their homes after being identified from footage or photos taken by the police during the demonstrations. So far, 13 Turkish journalists have been detained for covering the protests, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, who was charged with "taking part in illegal rallies and marches" on the basis of images shot by the police. For Orhan Sener, a digital technologies expert, the use of technology marks a major departure from 2013, when a small protest against plans to demolish Gezi Park in central Istanbul snowballed into a wave of national unrest over the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time. "The security forces' information technology capabilities have increased considerably since then," Sener said. "During the Gezi movement, the protesters dominated social networks and the police weren't able to identify them," he said. "But today, when you join a demonstration in Turkey, your face is recognized by a camera and the system cross-references it with your profile on social networks." Faces masked Faced with such a risk, many demonstrators are now covering their heads and faces with hats, masks and scarves. In Istanbul, police have frequently surrounded protesters and ordered them to uncover their faces so they can be filmed, refusing to let them go if they do not, generating widespread distress for many young people, AFP correspondents said. "Every means of pressure generates a countermeasure. We will soon see greater use of different clothing, glasses or make-up to thwart facial recognition technologies," said Arif Kosar, who specializes in the impact of new technologies. A whirling dervish stands in front of Turkish anti-riot police officers during a rally in support of Istanbul's arrested mayor in the city on March 23. | AFP-JIJI "But I don't think facial recognition technology is the main source of pressure today. The use of disinformation to smear the protests, or neutralize and divide them, plays a more important role," he said. Erdogan has denounced the protests as "street terror," accusing participants of "vandalizing" a mosque and a cemetery, charges the opposition has denied. "Authoritarian regimes now know how to use the internet to their advantage. They have found ways of censoring it," Sener said. "But above all, they use it for their own propaganda." 'Moving toward a surveillance state' Immediately after Imamoglu's arrest in a predawn raid, which he recounted on X before being taken away, the authorities started reducing bandwidth for internet users in Istanbul, rendering access to social networks impossible for 42 hours. They also asked the social media platform X to close more than 700 accounts belonging to journalists, news organizations, political figures and students among others, the platform said. "There was no court decision behind the bandwidth reduction or the bid to block X accounts. These measures were put in place arbitrarily," said Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor and head of Turkey's Freedom of Expression Association. He said there was legislation being prepared that would require messaging services such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram to open offices in Turkey and disclose users' identities to the authorities. "We are moving toward a surveillance state," Akdeniz said. Since 2020, internet service providers have provided data on online activities and the identity of internet users to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), the opposition news website Medyascope revealed in 2022. "By law, the BTK can only keep the data collected for two years. However, we have seen data going back 10 years being provided to prosecutors during the investigation into the Istanbul mayor," Akdeniz said. "This data retention, despite the law, for purposes which are unknown, opens the way for arbitrary practices," he said. For Sener, activism in the real world and online "used to be two different worlds, but now they are intertwined." With facial recognition, "the government is trying to discourage people from joining demonstrations, while hindering their mobilization through social networks," he said.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In Turkey, new technologies reinforce repression
With anti-government protests sweeping across Turkey, the authorities have used all technological means to try to curb them, from restricting internet access to using facial recognition to identify protesters, who have been forced to adapt. Amid a ban on protests, nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations that erupted on March 19 following the detention of Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on graft charges. As well as those apprehended in the streets, many others have been arrested in pre-dawn raids at their homes after being identified from footage or photos taken by the police during the demonstrations. So far, 13 Turkish journalists have been detained for covering the protests, including AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, who was charged with "taking part in illegal rallies and marches" on the basis of images shot by the police. For Orhan Sener, a digital technologies expert, the use of technology marks a major departure from 2013, when a small protest against plans to demolish Gezi Park in central Istanbul snowballed into a wave of national unrest over the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time. "The security forces' information technology capabilities have increased considerably since then," Sener said. "During the Gezi movement, the protesters dominated social networks and the police weren't able to identify them," he said. "But today, when you join a demonstration in Turkey, your face is recognised by a camera and the system cross-references it with your profile on social networks." - Faces masked - Faced with such a risk, many demonstrators are now covering their heads and faces with hats, masks and scarves. In Istanbul, police have frequently surrounded protesters and ordered them to uncover their faces so they can be filmed, refusing to let them go if they do not, generating widespread distress for many young people, AFP correspondents said. "Every means of pressure generates a countermeasure. We will soon see greater use of different clothing, glasses or make-up to thwart facial recognition technologies," said Arif Kosar, who specialises in the impact of new technologies. "But I don't think facial recognition technology is the main source of pressure today. The use of disinformation to smear the protests, or neutralise and divide them, plays a more important role," he said. Erdogan has denounced the protests as "street terror", accusing participants of "vandalising" a mosque and a cemetery, charges the opposition has denied. "Authoritarian regimes now know how to use the internet to their advantage. They have found ways of censoring it," Sener said. "But above all, they use it for their own propaganda." - 'Moving towards a surveillance state' - Immediately after Imamoglu's arrest in a pre-dawn raid, which he recounted on X before being taken away, the authorities started reducing bandwidth for internet users in Istanbul, rendering access to social networks impossible for 42 hours. They also asked the social media platform X to close more than 700 accounts belonging to journalists, news organisations, political figures and students among others, the platform said. "There was no court decision behind the bandwidth reduction or the bid to block X accounts. These measures were put in place arbitrarily," said Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor and head of Turkey's Freedom of Expression Association (IFOD). He said there was legislation being prepared that would require messaging services such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram to open offices in Turkey and disclose users' identities to the authorities. "We are moving towards a surveillance state," Akdeniz said. Since 2020, internet service providers have provided data on online activities and the identity of internet users to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), the opposition news website Medyascope revealed in 2022. "By law, the BTK can only keep the data collected for two years. However, we have seen data going back 10 years being provided to prosecutors during the investigation into the Istanbul mayor," Akdeniz said. "This data retention, despite the law, for purposes which are unknown, opens the way for arbitrary practices," he said. For Sener, activism in the real world and online "used to be two different worlds, but now they are intertwined". With facial recognition, "the government is trying to discourage people from joining demonstrations, while hindering their mobilisation through social networks," he said. bg/hmw/gv Sign in to access your portfolio
