Gendarmerie to guard threatened Gezi Park protester actor Alabora

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

A file photo shows Mehmet Ali Alabora, in a white shirt, participating in Gezi Park protests with other famous actors. Hürriyet Photo

Famous Turkish actor Memet Ali Alabora, who has complained of death threats following a lynch campaign conducted against him by Islamist media for his support of the Gezi protests, will now receive official gendarmerie protection.

Civil gendarmerie teams will protect Alabora, as he resides within the jurisdiction of the gendarmerie.

Alabora recently organized a press conference to say he was being threatened by unknown people over his support for the Gezi Park protests and that he would be requesting legal protection, after Turkish daily Yeni Şafak had depicted him as one of the leading figures of “a plan to topple the Turkish government” on June 10.

Daily Yeni Şafak had claimed that a theater play called “Mi Minör,” allegedly supported by an agency in Britain, had conducted rehearsals for a “revolution” in Turkey for months. The newspaper accused Alabora of collaborating with “external spies” to start a revolution in Turkey.

Alabora, who is also the director of the play, is a well-known activist in Turkey in favor of civil rights and the environment.

“Mi Minör” takes place in a non-existent country called Pinima. It has been described by critics as a thought-provoking, technologically cutting-edge play. The play fully integrates digital technology and social media, with digital and “physical” audiences and actors continuously interacting both inside the theater and on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.