Read Turkish original here. The text has been edited easily for German version.
Last week we thought about Gorki Theater Berlin of our journalist colleague Hrant Dink, who was murdered eleven years ago. The atre was under police protection because of aggressors incited by Turkish government. At same time we learned that in Turkey piece was only banned by dictator of our artist colleague Barış Atay. There, police moved atre and left neir an actor nor an audience.
At same time in two different places a police-guarded atre: In one, police protected artist from state, in or state in front of artist.
Can DündarIs editor-in-chief of new Web portal Özgürüz, which he founded in Germany. He writes for time a weekly column about crisis in Turkey.
The piece only dictator tells of how an authoritarian head of state puts people under his thumb. It does not surprise that Erdoğan feels disturbed, even if his name does not occur. It is astonishing, however, that every time he feels disturbed, artists get expensive. And since Turkish government started military operation in Syria last week, this price has increased. The famous actor, Fırat, was chosen for first victim. An interview in which he spoke against conscription five years ago was dug up by government-loyal Trollheer and Fırat lynched. Then a television show talked about which artists refused to support operation, and names of opponents of war were turned into a target. As a result, over 170 artists and artists against war drafted a peace appeal to Members of Parliament. Of course, media and social media immediately fell over m with a Shitstorm. In addition, it hailed insults from Erdoğan: "Alleged artists, unscrupulous, traitors, immoral, vile rags..."
Hardly had president rattled down what his vocabulary of insults blazes, police apartments stormed by people who had expressed mselves on Twitter against war. The journalist Nurcan Bacon, one of m, reports: "Sunday night at 0.30 am I sat in front of TV, my little son played with Lego. Horrible noise tore me out of armchair. I thought earth was shaking. My husband and I kept kids back and ran to front door. Police were about to break door, but door was stable and did not post, walls cracked. Shortly reafter, a special unit of almost twenty masked men stormed in with Kalashnikovs. "
Before eyes of her children, Bacon was arrested. At police station, she was asked why she was against war.
This article dates back to time No. 06/2018. Here you can read entire output.This is price in Turkey of being a war opponent. Neverless, a handful of courageous intellectuals, artists, writers, journalists, jurists in ir freedom, and price of ir lives, even hold on to ir right to free speech and oppose war for peace.
Now is right time for German artists to show solidarity. It is time to Barış Atays only dictator at Gorki Theater, to show Fırats films, to transfer Nurcan Baysals report of ir arrest into German, to translate books of imprisoned writers, to jointly sign peace appeals, DI E expose ir signatories in Turkey to Lynch, to visit journalists in custody, to observe processes against artists, to organize joint exhibitions for peace and freedom, to enter into language of art for peace, universal solidarity Practicing with artists...
When, if not now?
From Turkish by Sabine Adatepe
Date Of Update: 04 February 2018, 12:03
