TURKISH ARTISTS PROTEST AGAINST AN ISLAMIC ROOTED GOVERNMENT
Turkey artists demand an end to divisive language
ANKARA (AFP) – 29.6.2013 – Turkey’s artists, journalists and authors including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk on Saturday placed a full-page ad in several newspapers, calling on the government to end divisive language and stop polarising the country.
The move comes after recent protests that turned violent and which have threatened to shake the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to its core. “We are concerned,” the artists wrote in the ad. “The ‘you vs. us’ rhetoric is sharpening polarisation in society,” they warned, calling for an end to pressure.