Now Turkish actor, 83, is accused of ‘insulting’ Erdogan
A veteran Turkish actor aged 83 has become the latest person to face a criminal investigation for “insulting” the notoriously thinskinned President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Genco Erkal, 83, said on Saturday that his social media posts on Twitter since 2016 were being examined, and that he had been ordered to give his testimony on Monday.
Erkal, one of Turkey’s most popular stage actors and directors, founded the award-winning Dostlar Theater in 1969. It is known for staging plays that are critical of the government’s political line, and that try to raise social awareness.
In his Twitter posts, he criticized the conduct of the Turkish government and highlighted social issues.
The actor has alleged that playwrights were censoring their own work in order to receive financial support from local municipalities, and said the Dostlar had received no such support for years because of the backing he gave to the anti-government Gezi protests in 2013. An administrative court in
Ankara ruled in 2014 that the refusal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to offer funding to Erkal’s theater was “against the principles of justice and equality.”
Between 2014
and 2019, Turkish authorities launched 128,872 investigations into “insults” against Erdogan, and the courts convicted 9,556 of those charged, including politicians, journalists, actors, elderly people and children.
Two other veteran actors, Mujdat Gezen and Metin Akpinar, faced charges this year for “insulting the president publicly” in critical remarks made during a TV show. They attended three hearings, and were acquitted.
On the TV show, Akpinar, 79, blamed social polarization in Turkey on Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and suggested that “maybe leaders could be hung from their feet or poisoned in cellars” if Turkey’s democratization process could not be achieved peacefully.
On the same show, Gezen, 77, said: “Erdogan tells the people, ‘Know your place.’ Look, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, you cannot test our patriotism. Know your place.”
Erkal, one of Turkey’s most popular stage actors and directors, founded the award-winning Dostlar Theater in 1969. It is known for staging plays that are critical of the government’s political line, and that try to raise social awareness.