In choosing to stand beside Ilham Aliyev, current president of Azerbaijan, Erdoğan has crossed the aisle leaving behind many of his nominal Western allies who have taken strong stances in opposition of Aliyev’s actions in Nagorno-Karabakh, which have been named as ‘mass displacement’ and ‘demographic manipulation’.
(insert – it’s nice that the US and EU proxies ‘verbally’ support the ethnic Armenian majority being expelled from Nagorno Karabakh, but their motives are evil. Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan in the old Soviet Union which collapsed. Then the ethnic Armenians declared independence but got attacked by the Azeri/Turkish. .. Exactly what happened with the ethnic Russians in the small Donbass area of Ukraine! The only difference is that now the cynical US and EU want to court Armenia into NATO against Russia.)
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the controversial but unsurprising decision to stand beside Azerbaijan’s military actions in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, often referred to as Artsakh by Armenians. In a statement he gave addressing the United Nations (UN) General Assembly he stated:
“It is now widely recognised that Karabakh rightfully belongs to Azerbaijan. Any attempt to impose a different status will not be accepted. We stand by Azerbaijan, with which we share the motto of ‘one nation, two states’, in the protection of its territorial integrity”.
These statements come amid chaos in Nagorno-Karabakh. Following a blockade established in December 2022 on the
Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, Azerbaijan conducted a large-scale attack, which they called a ‘counter-terrorism operation’ on the region, resulting in dozens of civilian fatalities and even more wounded.
The producers and directors of 27 films have announced their withdrawal from the Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey’s Antalya province in reaction to the organizing committee’s decision to remove a documentary depicting the plight of victims of a post-coup purge in Turkey, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing the Diken news website on Wednesday.
“We consider the removal of the documentary from the program an open threat to the freedom of artistic expression,” said the producers and directors in a joint statement. “Festivals belong to the public, and we find it unacceptable that they should be subjected to censorship.”
The productions that were withdrawn included seven movies, six documentaries and 14 short films.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government initiated a massive purge of state institutions following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016. Over 130,000 civil servants lost their jobs due to suspected ties to “terrorist organizations.”
The dismissed individuals also faced barriers to employment in the private sector and restrictions on obtaining passports. Their treatment has been described by human rights groups as “civil death.”
The documentary, titled “Kanun Hükmü” (With the Force of Law), focuses on the challenges faced by Yasemin, a doctor, and Engin, a teacher, who lost their civil service jobs under post-coup emergency decree-laws, known as KHKs, issued by the AKP government.
Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry on Thursday stated that it had withdrawn its support for the Golden Orange Festival. The festival’s sponsors also pulled their support in coordination with the ministry.
Its removal has ignited a storm of criticism.
In an unprecedented move, 20 jury members resigned in protest. Members of the jury for the Adana Altın Koza Film Festival also showed solidarity by expressing their support for the film and its director.
Well-known actors, directors and writers have also voiced their disapproval. Actor, director and writer Orhan Alkaya said those responsible for the removal should “curl up and die—if they can feel shame.”
Münir Korkmaz, a reporter for KHK TV, denounced the removal, saying, “This film was about the honorable struggle of KHK victims. We demand its reinstatement among the competing films.” Turkish film director Ezel Akay echoed the sentiment, labeling the decision a “big mistake.”
The festival’s director, Dr. Ahmet Boyacıoğlu, justified the removal by claiming that an individual in the film is part of an ongoing legal process. Demirci, the film’s director, denied this claim, saying there is no such ongoing legal process and called the removal a “blow to cinema.”
The Fethullah Gülen movement strongly denied having any role in the failed coup in 2016 but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge, firing hundreds of thousands and dehumanizing and jailing popular Gulen figures.
Professional organizations such as the Actors Union, Cinema Workers Union (Sine-Sen) and Documentary Filmmakers Union are among those demanding the reinstatement of the film to the festival. Various jury members have indicated that they will resume their duties only if the film is reinstated.
The Altın Portakal Film Festival is organized by the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, which is run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), and the Antalya Culture and Arts Foundation.
Zoe Bakers ‘Means and Ends: The revolutionary practice of anarchism in Europe and the United States’ is a new book published by AK Press. Means and Ends focuses on the theory and practice of anarchism in the period from 1868-1939. While limited by the periodic and geographical approach, Means and Ends is refreshing in its […]
Empire managers were openly discussing the ways a war in Ukraine would directly benefit the U.S. empire long before the invasion. They knew exactly what they were doing when they provoked this war, and they know exactly what they’re doing by keeping it going. And they’re loving every minute of it. One of the dumbest […]
Senator Rand Paul declared that he will hold up a spending bill in the Senate and push toward a government shutdown unless $6 billion in aid to Ukraine is removed from the legislation.
Paul took to Twitter noting that he will only allow a vote on the spending stopgap before the Sept. 30 deadline for funding government if Senate leaders get rid of the massive amount of money earmarked for the war.
“If leadership insists on funding another country’s government at the expense of our own government, all blame rests with their intransigence,” Paul wrote.
Last week, Paul slammed the Ukrainian leadership as “corrupt” and blasting the visiting President Zelensky as “begging for more money.”
In the Senate, Paul asked “When will the aid requests end? When will the war end? Can someone explain what victory looks like?”
Paul also noted that Zelensky has cancelled Democracy in the country.
“They’ve cancelled the elections. What kind of democracy has no election?” he noted, adding “next year, Zelensky said he’s not going to have an election because it would be inconvenient during the war and would be expensive.”
He continued, “if you don’t have elections, who in the world will be supporting a country that’s not a democracy? They’ve banned the political parties, they’ve invaded churches, they’ve arrested priests. So, no, it isn’t a democracy. It’s a corrupt regime.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned on Thursday that the “next step of Ukraine War escalation” is stationing United States military advisers on the ground.
“Have they forgotten how we got embroiled in Vietnam?” RFK Jr. noted, linking to a recent article in Foreign Affairs calling for on-the-ground training:
Establishment journal Foreign Affairs signals the next step of Ukraine War escalation: stationing U.S. military advisors on the ground. Have they forgotten how we got embroiled in Vietnam?https://t.co/1waziqtGf1
« The Way of the Shaman » alternates scenes from an art installation of my paintings and totemic sculptures at the Eyedrum Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, with scenes of Yanomami shamanic initiation and daily life in the forest and the village. Music: Luciano Berio Here’s the film: For more information about the Rainforest Art Project, please […]
The Free 