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Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT has dismissed actress Aybüke Pusat and pulled a completed series from its streaming platform after she publicly supported a nationwide boycott campaign led by the opposition.
Pusat, one of the lead actors in Teşkilat (The Shadow Team), a spy-action series centered on Turkey’s intelligence agency, shared a post yesterday backing the one-day "no shopping" boycott organized by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The boycott followed protests sparked by the detention of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
After sharing the post, Pusat was targeted by pro-government social media accounts, which called for her dismissal from the TRT series. The next day, TRT confirmed her removal in a written statement.
"It is never acceptable for people involved in the projects of TRT, which represents our nation, to be a part of a political campaign, which is clearly initiated by a political party, targets the economy of our country, aims to design politics and society, and polarizes the nation," the broadcaster said.
TRT also stated that “being used as a tool in a boycott campaign driven by the political goals of a certain group clearly violates TRT’s principles, public broadcasting values, and professional ethics.”
“It is not acceptable for someone to act in TRT productions while also supporting a boycott that targets TRT itself with baseless accusations,” the statement continued.
The CHP’s boycott has included state media and pro-government outlets, accusing them of ignoring the massive protests over İmamoğlu’s detention in their coverage.
TRT further stated that although episodes featuring Pusat had already been filmed, it would revise the storyline to remove her scenes.
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The decision drew criticism from screenwriter Ali Aydın, who worked on the 2023 TRT series Rumi, which was streamed on TRT’s platform Tabii and portrayed the life of the 13th-century Islamic scholar and poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. In a social media post, Aydın said, “If you fire an actor from Teşkilat for exercising their democratic right under the threat of hired trolls, you may also have to remove one of Tabii’s most-watched series from your library. Just a reminder.”
TRT General Director Zahid Sobacı responded on social media, saying, “This person has no institutional ties to TRT and worked on a project completed years ago.”
He added, “But TRT will not and has never tolerated the toxic rhetoric of those who try to pressure others through threats while aiding boycott calls that target our country’s economy.”
Shortly after, the Rumi series was removed from the Tabii platform. (VK)
