Turkish artist Berna Lashin announced on her social media pages, which are followed by millions of citizens in Turkey, that she was summoned with the intention of “ascertaining what she meant by her sarcastic comment”, in which she said on her private pages: “Are cherries expensive!; You can not buy cherries.” No problem with that.”
The artist mocked the outrageous high prices and insanely high prices during the past days, after the depreciation of the Turkish currency, and the failure of government institutions to please the citizens to provide their food requirements, which, according to the figures announced by the Turkish research authorities, became twice the average monthly income of the family in the country.
Lashin is one of the most famous Turkish actresses since the early nineties, as she participated in dozens of famous Turkish films and series, in addition to her work as an actress and theater director.
It was also a precursor to many Turkish cultural and social programs, which had the widest follow-up in the country.
But Lashin has been known in Turkish cultural and artistic circles as a political and cultural opposition to the ruling regime for years.
The artist hails from the coastal city of Izmir, the center of the Ataturk Republican People’s Party, the largest Turkish opposition party.
Also, she is the daughter of one of the most famous university professors and researchers in Turkey, and she has been subjected more than once to trials and legal questions because of her political and cultural stances, especially in the campaign that led her to reject Turkey’s return to the application of the death penalty.
The Turkish artist raised the intensity of the confrontation immediately after the antagonism, and published on her page on the Twitter platform an excerpt from the poem of the Turkish poet Orhan Lee, in which he said: “We live for free, the air is free, and the clouds are free, but the price of freedom is the head, so arrest is free.”
She explained that the judicial authorities are now “used as a stick in the hands of the government, with which they confront anyone who talks about the high prices in the country.”
The Turkish security and judicial authorities had summoned hundreds of artists, writers, media professionals and university professors in the country, who expressed their opinions and objections to the high prices and general conditions, so that their number reached nearly 10,000 non-political public figures, according to Turkish opposition sources.
The Turkish authorities considered the slightest form of criticism as an insult and stirred up strife and chaos in the country.
During the past days, the Turkish lira witnessed a massive decline, as it lost at least 9 percent of its value in less than 24 hours, from 8.3 liras to one dollar, to 9.34 liras to one dollar.
Turkish theater artist Masoud Farhad explained, in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”, the reasons for the authorities’ pressure on the class of public figures in the country, who object to its policies.
He said, “The Turkish authorities are concerned about the possibility of thousands of Turkish social bases rallying around economic demands, and that there will be legal personalities representing those demands.”
He concluded by saying: “The economic issue is the most influential on the choices and attitudes of citizens, from the ruling authority.”
.