Turkish authorities on Thursday detained at least 11 people including an actor suspected of spreading calls for a blanket boycott of purchases to protest the arrest of İstanbul’s opposition mayor, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Wednesday was declared a “no-buy day” by university students protesting the arrest of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu last month. The initiative was backed by İmamoğlu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which had initially launched a boycott of pro-government businesses and media organizations in protest of the mayor’s arrest last month.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the calls, accusing the suspects of inciting “hatred and discrimination,” Anadolu said, adding that authorities were seeking five additional suspects.
Among those detained in simultaneous operations across multiple locations was actor Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, who stars in the popular series “Şakir Paşa Ailesi” (Portrait of a Scandalous Family).
His detention has drawn widespread criticism from colleagues, who posted messages of solidarity on social media and called for his immediate release.
The detentions came after the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday evening that it had opened an investigation into individuals making calls for a boycott on social and traditional media aimed at preventing a segment of the public from engaging in economic activity.
The investigation accuses the people behind the call of fomenting hatred and discrimination and inciting the public to hatred and hostility, crimes punishable under the Turkish Penal Code.
Businesses close amid boycott calls
CHP leader Özgür Özel called for the purchase boycott on Wednesday to put more pressure on the government after İmamoğlu’s arrest.
Some cafes, restaurants and bars heeded the boycott call and remained closed Wednesday in İstanbul as well as in the capital of Ankara. Some business owners reported a sharp drop in customers following the boycott call, while others defended it as a necessary form of protest.
Government officials condemned the boycott as an attempt to destabilize the economy. Ministers protested the initiative by posting photos and videos of themselves shopping on social media Wednesday.
İmamoğlu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest political rival, was arrested March 23 on corruption charges that many say are politically motivated. His detention has sparked widespread protests unseen in the country since 2013 and has intensified tensions.
Actors’ X accounts blocked
Two Turkish actors, Rojda Demirer and Alican Yücesoy, had their X accounts blocked in Turkey after they expressed support for the opposition-led boycott, based on a court decision.
Demirer and Yücesoy are among a growing number of opposition figures facing online censorship, prompting CHP leader Özel to call on X to resist Turkish government pressure to silence critics.
Özel publicly appealed to X’s Turkey office and its Global Government Affairs division, warning of potential consequences if the platform continues what he described as “anti-democratic” practices.
“X has blocked access to hundreds of accounts, thinking it will go unnoticed,” Özel wrote on X. “If you become a tool for anti-democratic practices today, if you implement access ban demands, think carefully about what this nation will do to you!”
X revealed last week that Turkish authorities have issued court orders to block more than 700 accounts since İmamoğlu’s detention on March 19 — orders that the company said it is contesting. In a public statement X described these broader restrictions as “unlawful” and pledged to fight them through legal channels.
The company later announced that it had filed a legal challenge with Turkey’s Constitutional Court against a government order to block 126 user accounts linked to protests of İmamoğlu’s arrest. X is contesting only these 126 accounts in the legal filing, leaving the total number of blocked accounts uncertain, though estimates suggest the figure is in the hundreds.
Earlier this week, a lawyer with ties to Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) petitioned a court in İstanbul to block access to the X account of İmamoğlu following his call for a boycott of pro-government businesses.
Since his arrest, his legal team has been managing his X account, using it to rally supporters and protest his pretrial detention.
Under Elon Musk’s ownership, X has faced criticism for complying with censorship requests from authoritarian regimes, with Turkey ranking among the top countries seeking account suspensions and content removals.
The latest wave of account blocks follows a broader trend of X complying with Ankara’s escalating crackdown on dissent. In recent months the platform has enforced Turkish court orders to restrict access to hundreds of accounts, including those belonging to journalists, activists and media organizations in Turkey and in exile.
Actress dropped from series over boycott support
Meanwhile, actress Aybüke Pusat has been removed from the cast of the series “Teşkilat” (Organization), which airs on state-run TRT 1, after expressing support for the nationwide “no-buy day” on Wednesday.
Pusat’s removal came after she was publicly targeted by Cem Küçük, a journalist with close ties to the government.
The series “Rumi,” written by screenwriter Ali Aydın, was also removed from the global streaming platform Tabii, owned by TRT. Aydın, who had voiced support for Pusat, warned that if the actress was punished for exercising a democratic right and fired from her job, he would quit working on “Rumi,” despite it being one of the platform’s most popular productions.