ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities on Thursday detained at least 11 people including an actor suspected of spreading calls for a blanket boycott of purchases in protest against the jailing of Istanbul’s opposition mayor.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the calls and accused the suspects of “incitement to hatred and enmity,” the official Anadolu news agency reported.
Five additional suspects were being sought, it added.
Among the detainees was Turkish actor Cem Yigit Uzumoglu, who played Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in the Netflix series “Rise of Empires: Ottoman.”
The leader of the main opposition CHP party called for the purchase boycott on Wednesday to put more pressure on the government after the March 19 arrest of Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Imamoglu is the main rival to President Recip Tayyip Erdogan. His detention set off a wave of mass protests not seen in Turkiye for more than a decade.
Nearly 2,000 people, including several hundred students and young people, have been arrested since the start of the protests.
Some cafes, restaurants and bars heeded the boycott call and remained closed Wednesday in Istanbul as well as in the capital Ankara, AFP journalists reported.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel had already launched a call to boycott dozens of Turkish companies and groups seen as close to Erdogan’s government.
On March 26, Erdogan threw his weight behind companies targeted by the opposition leader, saying: “We will not leave anyone or any of our companies... that add value to the Turkish economy to their mercy.”
Cabinet ministers also denounced the calls for boycott, with Trade Minister Omer Bolat sharing pictures on social media platform X of himself shopping in a store with a basket “in a show of solidarity against the calls by some opposition groups in order to harm our country.”
Those who supported the boycott calls faced reprisals.
Uzumoglu and 10 other detainees were at Istanbul’s main court Caglayan on Thursday, waiting to be referred to the court.
“Boycott is a form of protest that can be evaluated within the scope of the constitution’s freedom of expression... and the right to assembly,” the actor wrote on X on Wednesday.
Turkiye’s state-run broadcaster TRT dismissed actress Aybuke Pusat from the television series “Teskilat” (“The Organization“) 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 polarize the nation,” the broadcaster’s director general Mehmet Zahid Sobaci said on Wednesday.
The Actors’ Union condemned the clampdown on actors, with its president veteran actress Zuhal Olcay in a video message calling for Uzumoglu’s release.
“We believe that solidarity is very important and has power in these days when our colleagues are fired and detained. Cem is not alone,” she said.
The calls for boycott spread to music this week when British rock band Muse said Wednesday they had canceled an upcoming gig in Istanbul, after a backlash from fans at the concert promoter who criticized anti-government protests.
The campaign 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 by experts.
“Necessary actions will be taken,” he said.