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ARTISTS, SCHOLARS CONDEMN GEZI CRACKDOWN IN LETTER TO TURKISH PM
14:58 25/07/2013 Â" SOCIETY
A group of internationally renowned artists and scholars condemned the
Turkish authorities' heavy-handed crackdown on the Gezi Park protests
in a full-page letter published July 24 in the British broadsheet
The Times, addressed to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The signatories, including figures known for their activism such as
Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Ben Kingsley and movie director David Lynch,
described the Turkish government as "a dictatorial rule" and slammed
Erdogan's uncompromising stance regarding the protesters' demands.
The prime minister's orders "led to the deaths of five innocent
youths," the letter said, adding that he might be called to render
account to the European Court of Human Rights for the police's
violence.
They also compared the counter-rallies organized by the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) to the annual Nuremberg rallies organized
by the Nazis.
"Only days after clearing Taksim Square and Gezi Park relying on
untold brutal force, you held a meeting in Istanbul, reminiscent of
the Nuremberg Rally, with total disregard for the five dead whose
only crime was to oppose your dictatorial rule," the letter said.
It also emphasized that more journalists were imprisoned in Turkey
than in Iran and China combined. "Moreover, you described these
protesters as tramps, looters and hooligans, even alleging they were
foreign-led terrorists. Whereas, in reality, they were nothing but
youngsters wanting Turkey to remain a Secular Republic as designed
by its founder Kemal Ataturk," the letter added.
Andrew Mango, the biographer of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Fazıl
Say, the Turkish pianist who was recently sentenced for blasphemy
after tweeting several lines attributed to a poet, were also among
the signatories.
Other signatories included: Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, British
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, British actress Vanessa Redgrave, British film
director of Turkish origin Fuad Kavur, Hungarian Cinematographer Vilmos
Zsigmond and American freelance journalist and writer Claire Berlinski.
Source: Panorama.am
14:58 25/07/2013 Â" SOCIETY
A group of internationally renowned artists and scholars condemned the
Turkish authorities' heavy-handed crackdown on the Gezi Park protests
in a full-page letter published July 24 in the British broadsheet
The Times, addressed to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The signatories, including figures known for their activism such as
Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Ben Kingsley and movie director David Lynch,
described the Turkish government as "a dictatorial rule" and slammed
Erdogan's uncompromising stance regarding the protesters' demands.
The prime minister's orders "led to the deaths of five innocent
youths," the letter said, adding that he might be called to render
account to the European Court of Human Rights for the police's
violence.
They also compared the counter-rallies organized by the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP) to the annual Nuremberg rallies organized
by the Nazis.
"Only days after clearing Taksim Square and Gezi Park relying on
untold brutal force, you held a meeting in Istanbul, reminiscent of
the Nuremberg Rally, with total disregard for the five dead whose
only crime was to oppose your dictatorial rule," the letter said.
It also emphasized that more journalists were imprisoned in Turkey
than in Iran and China combined. "Moreover, you described these
protesters as tramps, looters and hooligans, even alleging they were
foreign-led terrorists. Whereas, in reality, they were nothing but
youngsters wanting Turkey to remain a Secular Republic as designed
by its founder Kemal Ataturk," the letter added.
Andrew Mango, the biographer of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Fazıl
Say, the Turkish pianist who was recently sentenced for blasphemy
after tweeting several lines attributed to a poet, were also among
the signatories.
Other signatories included: Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, British
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, British actress Vanessa Redgrave, British film
director of Turkish origin Fuad Kavur, Hungarian Cinematographer Vilmos
Zsigmond and American freelance journalist and writer Claire Berlinski.
Source: Panorama.am