An AKP Classic: Jihadist Municipality Bans Art Exhibit in Turkey

Turkish daily Hürriyet recently reported that the municipality of Bolu, a mid-sized city in central-western Turkey governed by a mayor from the ruling AKP party, closed down a photograph exhibit of a local artist on the basis that it contained obscene photographs (related article can be accessed at http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=8698232).

You can take a look at the “obscene” pictures following the link: http://fotogaleri.hurriyet.com.tr/galeridetay.aspx?cid=11455&rid=2

Siyami Palazoğlu, the manager of the Municipality’s Art Center, claimed that the exhibit had to be closed down because of “maintenance work,” and would be reopened “after repairs are finished.” Tuğba Menteş, an Izzet Baysal University Photography Department senior, whose artwork has been shunned, said on the other hand that the officials had told her outright that they found her photographs bawdy and wanted her to replace them with more “family-friendly” ones.

This is a typical example of the countless moves by the government and local officials of AKP, the ruling Islamic party, against which the chief prosecutor in Turkey has brought charges for trying to destroy the secular nature of the republic.  European Union officials like Jose Manuel Barrosso and Olli Rehn have surprisingly sided with AKP by criticizing the chief prosecutor’s action, clearly and unabashedly interfering with an ongoing judicial process, which they could not have dared in their own countries. EU’s love affair with the dark-minded jihadists in Turkey is frightening – and disgusting.