Erdoğan targets actress over incident at restaurant

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed Turkish actress Deniz Çakır, who was allegedly involved in an incident involving a group of veiled women at a restaurant 10 days ago, as the “miserable face of fascism” during his party’s parliamentary group meeting today.

Claiming Çakır had told the women to “go to Saudi Arabia,” Erdoğan said: “It is the mentality of the CHP [main opposition Republican People’s Party] to intervene in people’s private lives. The AKP [Justice and Development Party], to the contrary, has a mentality that guarantees diversity.”

However, a witness who works at the restaurant has refuted the claims spread by pro-government media outlets that the actress insulted the women for wearing veils, reportedly claiming that the group actually harassed the actress.

Çakır posted a message on Instagram on Sunday, saying “… The dispute at the restaurant has nothing to do with clothing, headscarves or personal preferences. It never has and never will [in my life].”

Çakır also said the aspersions cast on her were shameful.

According to the Turkish press, an investigation has been launched upon a complaint and the public prosecutor has demanded security footage from the restaurant

On December 23, 2018 a prosecutor in İstanbul initiated an investigation into veteran Turkish actors Metin Akpınar and Müjdat Gezen for alleged insult and threat to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after the president targeted the actors earlier the same day, saying, “You will pay for it.”

Akpınar and Gezen were briefly detained the following day and released on probation including an overseas travel ban after their questioning.

The prosecutor on Monday opened a second investigation into Akpınar based on remarks made by the actor that allegedly encouraged people to rebel against the Turkish government.

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