A hundred Turkish artists, authors, musicians, actors and actresses placed a full-page advertisement in newspapers on Saturday, demanding an end to the use of hate language.“There is the smell of anger and hatred again [in the country]. There are attempts to target artists and a campaign to discredit them,” read their statement titled “We are concerned.”
“We demand an end to [the use of] hate language, that the artists and the artworks do not become targets, and that the pressure exerted on society be lifted,” further stated the advertisement.
Among the famous people who signed the statement are writers Orhan Pamuk and Yaşar Kemal, directors Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who is also a deputy from pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), musicians Zülfü Livaneli, Leman Sam and Harun Tekin, screen names Halit Ergenç, Rutkay Aziz and Çetin Tekindor, photographer Ara Güler, poets Ataol Behramoğlu and Bejan Matur and pianist Fazıl Say.