Turkish actor among 11 held amid protest boycott calls

ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities on Thursday briefly detained 11 people, including a leading actor, who backed opposition protests against the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor.

Prosecutors had accused the suspects of “incitement to hatred and enmity,” the official Anadolu news agency reported.

While five other suspects were being sought, the 11 were detained and then released later Thursday.

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The 11 included actor Cem Yigit Uzumoglu, who played Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in a popular series “Rise of Empires: Ottoman”.

“We are free to protest, express our opinions and we will continue to be,” Uzumoglu, 31, told reporters after his release.

“And if there is an obstacle, we will continue to fight,” he added.

The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) called on Wednesday for a spending boycott to pressure the government after the March 19 arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

Imamoglu is the main rival to President Recip Tayyip Erdogan. His detention set off mass protests.

Nearly 2,000 people, including several hundred students and young people, have been arrested since the protests started.

Some cafes, restaurants and bars in Istanbul and Ankara remained closed Wednesday following the boycott call.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has also called for a boycott of dozens of Turkish companies and groups considered close to Erdogan’s government.

‘Boycott form of protest’

On March 26, Erdogan backed the companies targeted by the opposition, saying: “We will not leave anyone or any of our companies… that add value to the Turkish economy to their mercy.”

Ministers denounced the calls for boycott, with Trade Minister Omer Bolat sharing pictures on social media platform X of himself shopping in a store “in a show of solidarity against the calls by some opposition groups in order to harm our country”.

Supporters of the boycott have faced reprisals.

Uzumoglu and the 10 other detainees were taken to court in Istanbul.

Turkey’s state-run broadcaster TRT dismissed actress Aybuke Pusat from the television series “Teskilat” (“The Organisation”) after she gave open support for the opposition-led campaign.

“It’s never acceptable for the people involved in TRT projects… to be part of a political campaign that is clearly initiated by a political party, that targets our country’s economy and seeks to design politics and polarise the nation,” the broadcaster’s director general Mehmet Zahid Sobaci said on Wednesday.

‘Solidarity’

The boycott calls spread this week when British rock band Muse said Wednesday they had cancelled a concert in Istanbul, after a backlash from fans at the concert promoter who criticised anti-government protests.

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The campaign has also targeted Turkish media outlets known to be close to the government and that failed to broadcast the massive protests against Imamoglu’s jailing.

Turkish television watchdog RTUK’s president Ebubekir Sahin warned media outlets backing the boycott calls and said they were being monitored.