Detention warrant issued for Turkish director over comments about events commemorating coup attempt

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

A detention warrant has been issued for Turkish film director and producer over his social media posts about the commemoration events for the July 15 coup attempt widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) and its U.S.-based Fethullah Gülen.

The Istanbul Chief Prosecution Office issued a detention warrant for director Mustafa Altıoklar after evaluating his tweets about the first anniversary of the coup attempt that killed 249 people and injured more than 2,000 by the coup soldiers. However, Altıoklar was reportedly in Germany.

Following the detention warrant, Altıoklar criticized the decision from Germany saying Turkey was undergoing a totalitarian regime, according to the daily Birgün.

“We have become a community closed to criticism; a monotype social structure where everyone thinks the same is demanded. A totalitarian regime we have warned of for years is occurring in Turkey today. I was not surprised by the decision of the detention in a society where law has been suspended. It is desired to wear one type of clothes. All of this is a sign of deterioration,” he said.

Altıoklar who was born in 1958 in Ankara graduated from the Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty over physical therapy.

He went on to cinema in later years and is also known by his numbers of Turkish blockbuster movies and TV series, such as Istanbul Beneath My Wings, Cholera Street, He is in the Army Now and Shattered Soul.