Joint Statement by 3 Artists: ‘We Still Receive Death Threats, We are Concerned’

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Artists Ferhat Tunç and Pınar Aydınlar and writer Gökhan Yavuzel have released a joint statement for the press and announced that they have received new pictures of weapons and death threats on social media.

On May 27, the artists shared another statement and announced that they were receiving threatening social media messages. "We do not take even a single step back because we follow in the footsteps of Pir Sultan, who said, 'Let them return, I never return my way'," they previously said.

'Threats are increasing'

In their recent statement, the artists have briefly stated the following:

"First of all, we would like to say this: We are sorry that we come up for the obvious reasons. We are not happy to talk about these or bring them into agenda amid this bundle of problems that our country has found itself in. However, in the face of recent developments that have unfolded in a short span of time, we have felt the need to pen a new joint statement.

"The serious death threats targeting us, especially on social media, are increasing with each passing day. Ugly posts suggesting physical harm or killing to be inflicted on us are shared and distributed by mentioning our names. Not only are we concerned about this situation, but our friends, readers and listeners are also really concerned.

"However, we are concerned not because we fear for our lives, but because a gradual increase in such attacks might lead to social polarization and false perceptions about us and, more importantly, it might cause similar death threats to target our fellow artists, writers and intellectuals. In fact, several writers and artists have started to say that they face similar incidents.

'Our struggle is for peace'

"Our aim is not to represent a certain group with such messages. What we intend to do is to wreck the smear campaigns of certain groups and persons about us, to put an end to the fascistic threats that have no benefits for the society and to express our stance against those who try to legitimize any possible attacks on us in the eyes of society.

"A dialectical understanding of history shows us that the ones who are not intimidated and continue their struggle with perseverance bring societies to the better and nicer. We also know it very well that 'not every struggle makes one win, but the ones who win are the ones who struggled.'

"Our dream and struggle is for a world equipped with culture to create a society based on not hate speech, but on peace and love." (EMK/SD)