A Turkish actor who played a Kurdish militant in the 2017 hit French spy series “The Bureau” was questioned by İstanbul police investigating the alleged dissemination of “terrorist propaganda,” Agence France-Presse reported, citing Turkish media.
Melisa Sözen, 39, was taken in for questioning over her role in the five-season spy thriller series “Le Bureau des Legendes” (“The Bureau”) in which she played a Kurdish militant, the reports said late on Monday.
The hugely successful series depicted the daily lives of a unit within the French intelligence services (DGSE) that specialized in training agents abroad.
She was questioned on her return from abroad at the request of İstanbul’s chief public prosecutor, who is investigating her for “propaganda for a terrorist organization,” the private DHA news agency and the opposition Halk TV said.
The probe was related to the fatigues she was wearing for the role, which were allegedly similar to those worn by Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants that Ankara says are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
In her statement, she told police she was unaware of any political significance of her outfit in the series.
“I was playing the role of a double agent. The series was not broadcast in Turkey. I am someone who loves my country,” she was quoted as saying by Halk TV.
“The Bureau” was a runaway success for French producer Canal+, which sold it to more than 100 countries, and was even hailed by the DGSE for its realism.
Sözen also starred in “Winter Sleep” directed by Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan, which won the top Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014.
The investigation, which was opened more than seven years after the series was aired, follows a series of arrests and investigations targeting journalists, lawyers, politicians and figures in the arts and culture scene.
