Actors Kayhan Yıldızoğlu and Tuba Ünsal were denied permission to make a drama-related speech at a local high school in Bartın province as the city’s national education director feared they would disseminate propaganda on behalf of the “No” front before a referendum to take place in Turkey.
“We performed before a fantastic audience in Bartın. I would like to share a disappointing incident. We always want to visit schools in the cities and villages that we go to as part of our tours and gather with students so that we may inspire them and instill a love of the theater in them. Veteran [actor] Kayhan Yıldızoğlu is 84 years old, and he is the one who enjoys these gathering the most. Today, Yaşar Demir, the national education director in Bartın, first said ‘Let’s investigate their names,’ and then went further to say ‘They would make propaganda for the referendum at the high school, no way,’ and they did not let us into a state-funded high school,” Ünsal wrote on his Instagram account.
She also said their intention was never to be involved in politics.
A referendum on constitutional amendments, scheduled to take place on April 16, will open the way to a switch from a parliamentary system of governance to an executive presidency.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are pursuing an aggressive policy of propaganda ahead of the referendum. (Turkey Purge)