Turkish-German director urges Turkish President to stop the police violence

HAMBURG

Fatih Akın, the director of the 2004 Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner film “Head-On,” stated that he was writing the letter in case Gül had not heard about the police intervention that started once again on June 15. Hürriyet photo

Renowned Turkish-German director Fatih Akın has appealed to the Turkish President about the excessive use of force against the Gezi Park protesters and called for a halt to these actions.

“I call out to the ones with conscience; stop this violence,” said Akın in his open letter addressing President Abdullah Gül, published in daily Hamburger Morgenpost.

Akın, the director of the 2004 Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner film “Head-On,” stated that he was writing the letter in case Gül had not heard about the police intervention that started once again on June 15, which resulted in hundreds of casualties.

Police firing pepper spray in closed spaces, the detentions of the volunteer doctors helping the wounded “as terrorists,” and the 14-year-old child suffering of a cerebral hemorrhage due to the gas bomb capsule shot by the police were among the examples of the excessive use of force listed by Akın. “Police are intervening with tons of tear gas, gassed water, rubber bullets, without differentiating among people,” said Akın.

“Not long, ten years ago, you and your party fought for your fundamental rights and freedoms… Shouldn’t you be the one who understands this society the best?” asked Akın in his letter. “I don’t want to think that you have removed your conscience shirt like the others who have put on the governing shirt. I call out to the ones with conscience; stop this violence!”

The Gezi Park protests, which started off on May 27 as a passive resistance against the rebuilding of the Ottoman artillery barracks on the last leafy space in downtown Istanbul, turned into countrywide anti-government protests following the police crackdown.