Acclaimed Turkish actor sued for 鈥榠nsulting president鈥� with Twitter posts

Genco Erkal. (Photo/Twitter)
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  • Genco Erkal, one of the most popular stage actors and theatre directors in Turkey, has claimed in speeches that playwrights were censoring their plays to receive financial support from local municipalities

ISTANBUL: Leading Turkish actor Genco Erkal, 83, announced on Saturday that he is facing an investigation for exercising his freedom of expression.

Erkal, an outspoken government critic, is being investigated for 鈥渋nsulting the Turkish president鈥� and will give his testimony on Monday.

His social media postings on Twitter since 2016 are being examined, Erkal said, without giving further details.

鈥淚nsulting the president鈥� has become a widespread excuse for launching investigations against prominent popular figures, with several top actors and musicians being investigated despite their age.

Charged with 鈥渋nsulting the president publicly鈥� over critical remarks made during a TV program, veteran actors Mujdat Gezen and Metin Akpinar attended three hearings this year but were acquitted.

On the program, 79-year-old Akpinar blamed the social polarization in the country on the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and said that 鈥渕aybe leaders could be hung from their feet or poisoned in cellars鈥� if Turkey鈥檚 democratization process couldn鈥檛 be achieved peacefully.

During the same broadcast, 77-year-old veteran actor Gezen said, 鈥淸Erdogan] tells the people 鈥榢now your place.鈥� Look Recep Tayyip Erdogan, you cannot test our patriotism. Know your place.鈥�

Genco Erkal, one of the most popular stage actors and theatre directors in Turkey, has claimed in speeches that playwrights were censoring their plays to receive financial support from local municipalities and said that his award-winning theater, Dostlar (Friends) Theatre, had not received any support for years because of the support he gave to the anti-government Gezi protests in 2013.

Dostlar Theatre, founded in 1969, is known for staging plays that are critical of the government鈥檚 political line and that try to raise social awareness on specific topics.

In his Twitter posts, Erkal criticized the wrongdoings of the government and highlighted social problems.

Even at his age, Erkal still organizes countrywide tours each year to reach a wider audience in every province of the country and has staged a critical play 鈥� 鈥淥n Living鈥� 鈥� about the late Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet.

Erkal recites one of Hikmet鈥檚 poems when on tour: 鈥淟iving is no joke, you must live with great seriousness like a squirrel, for example, I mean expecting nothing except and beyond living, I mean living must be your whole occupation.鈥�

An administrative court in Ankara ruled in 2014 that the refusal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to offer funding to Erkal鈥檚 theater was 鈥渁gainst the principles of justice and equality.鈥�

Turkey ranked 154th out of 180 countries in the 2020 Reporters Without Borders鈥� press freedom index.

Between 2014 and 2019, Turkish authorities launched 128,872 investigations into insults against Erdogan, and Turkish courts sentenced 9,556 of those charged with insulting the president, including politicians, journalists, actors, elder people and even children.