• End to nipple censorship.

    Will the rules of use on social networks change?

  • White torture, the twisted Iranian method of martyring detained women

As if it were a film set, one of the most commercial streets in

Istanbul

became a meeting point for dozens of

Turkish actors.

In mid-January they burst into the city center with banners, capturing the attention of passersby.

The interpreters,

members of a union,

defied the

ban

on

demonstrating

in the streets - a measure imposed for years

against the opposition in Turkey -

to

protest

against government

censorship

in the

audiovisual sector.

The trigger for the protest was the authorities' fine against the new series of the moment,

'Red Buds'

('Kizil Goncalar' in Turkish).

The fiction, which is broadcast on Fox TV and does not yet have a release date in Spain, tells of the

social and religious division

of the country represented within

a family.

Turkey 's

media

watchdog ,

RTÜK,

banned the broadcast of the series for two weeks and imposed a

fine of 300,000 euros

on the channel after stating that Red Buds violates "the national and spiritual values ​​of society."

The producer of the series,

Faruk Turgut

, criticized the measure and assured that 'Red Sprouts' is a portrait of the social divisions that exist in the country and that it is evident that it has touched "the sensitive chord" of Turkish society, particularly the " charged atmosphere and the

moral war

that plagues the country".

Actresses, the most notable

After the fine, the series producer has had to close several buildings rented for recording, although 'Red Buds' has barely lost any audience.

A camera assistant who works on this fiction describes how censorship has

affected

the team: "This climate of

pressure

especially harms the creative team. If they impose

red lines

on you that are not completely clear, you try to find ways to express the same message." with other images or words. But this

lack of freedom

affects us all," explains Merve, who does not want to give her name for fear of being singled out.

"I think it also has a lot of influence on

actresses

, because they are

more distinguished.

They have much less freedom to explore risky characters or those that represent strong and independent women," she adds.

"Censorship, which occurs through methods such as punishments, bans, investigations, attacks, threats, intimidation, humiliation or blockades, threatens the existence of all creative fields and attempts to create a climate of fear," Ece noted during the protest in Istanbul

. Dizdar,

member of the board of directors of the

Actors Guild.

The cases of

fines and censorship

by the RTÜK organization are multiple and are part of an increasingly common policy of the Turkish authorities to

control the content

that is broadcast on

television

and

streaming platforms.

The press also receives these constant calls of attention, but in the case of fiction, even audiovisual products that had not yet been released have been censored.

This is the case of the series 'If I had known' ('If Only', on Netflix), which tells the story of a

woman disenchanted

with her marriage and looking for a twist of fate.

Homosexuality, prohibited

After reviewing the script, RTÜK did not give

Netflix

permission to

film the series in Turkey,

because one of the

characters

that appeared in the fiction was

homosexual

.

Netflix refused to modify the script and had to

move the entire production to another country.

Its creators were involved in another controversy with

'Amor 101'

('Love 101', on the same platform), when pro-government media began to speculate that the series had a homosexual character.

Netflix had to speak out after days of controversy to announce that 'Love 101' did not have homosexual characters.

This

pressure

is possible thanks to a

law that the Government approved

two years ago, which requires streaming platforms and social media companies to have an

office in Turkey,

allowing authorities

greater

control

of

the content they handle.

The

dynamics of censorship

almost always respond to the

same pattern.

A media outlet close to the Government or a conservative organization begins to point out a cultural product, ensuring that it goes against family values, the role of women or social morality.

Then, the RTÜK body, made up of representatives of the parties in Parliament, issues a decision, which is usually censorship against the audiovisual product.

"The Government (of President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan has the majority in Parliament, which is why it always manages to approve these measures," says a source from the RTÜK organization.

"The

Executive

is interested in pleasing the

most conservative sectors

of society to maintain their support, which is why it applies a heavy hand with these issues," he adds.

A family model anchored in the past

Feminist organizations

and

LGTBI groups

criticize that Erdogan's Government is trying

to impose a model of family

and

women

on society, forcing millions of people to fit into a stereotype of a

conservative

and

believing

person .

"A woman who abstains from motherhood because she works is denying her femininity," the president once said, adding: "A

woman

who

rejects motherhood

and

renounces household chores

faces the threat of losing her freedom. ".

Two years ago, the president ordered Turkey's withdrawal from the

Istanbul Convention,

a pan-European treaty that establishes a legal framework to protect women's rights, saying that the pact went against family values ​​because it mentioned single women who They live alone and promoted homosexuality by pointing out that people must be protected from sexist violence regardless of their gender.

"Defending the family

means defending the future of all humanity," Erdogan declared at a

UN meeting.

Censor fiction to erase reality

For

Asli Emirdogan,

a member of the feminist organization

Purple Solidarity

(Mor Dayanisma), the president's words have a great social impact.

"If they say that it is bad to be the way you are and make your decisions independently, if the media contributes to this idea, how are you going to decide your course as a woman if you have no references?" She points out.

"Censoring fiction

prevents us from imagining other scenarios of reality. It prevents us from knowing the history of many women who live in our country," she laments.

In August of last year, RTÜK banned the broadcast of five episodes of the series 'Opposite Worlds' ('Kizilcik Serbeti', which is broadcast on Divinity) for

violating family values.

The fiction portrays a wealthy but very conservative Turkish family whose son marries a woman from a secular family with strong and independent ideas.

She suffers

sexist violence

and is

thrown out of a window

by her

husband

, after refusing a sexual encounter with him.

It is precisely

this episode

that is the reason for RTÜK's censorship, which also imposed a

fine of 75,000 euros on the production company.

"Is it because we don't show female characters who remain silent and confront the harsh reality that women live in our society?"

Sila Türkoglu,

one of the leading actresses of the series, said on her networks.

Thousands of 'Opposite Worlds' fans opposed the measure with the hashtag

Don't touch opposite worlds.

Türkoglu stated: "The truth has never been accepted in this country."