Artists are fighting back against the cultural erasure and disciplining of art by the AKP-MHP regime by founding the “Art for Freedom” initiative. One of the founders, Lisa Çalan, said it is about breaking the climate of fear.

A few days ago, the founding of the “Art for Freedom” initiative was announced in the Amed. Many artists from Kurdistan and Turkey have joined the initiative. One of the founders is Lisa Çalan.

In an interview with ANF, she explained that the ban policy against art by the regime in Ankara is becoming more dramatic every day. She said: "The main reason for this initiative is to give a voice to all social problems and to create a space where artists can have their say."

Çalan continued: "A few months ago we published the statement 'Become a Voice of Peace'. This statement was subsequently signed by almost 700 artists. These signatures motivated us as artists to go a bit further. The fact that artists who had been silent and withdrawn for a long time made a statement with their signature and made their voices heard again gave us the idea of ​​founding this initiative. After that, we came together and took action. We decided to go a step further together with artists who are committed to art, who want to change and transform society with their production and who have a social conscience."

"The regime sees the power of art and tries to destroy it"

Çalan emphasized that there can be no talk of democracy in relation to Turkey and added: "There is an anti-democratic environment in the country. People are intimidated and live in fear. As artists, we wanted to act together to break this framework and we founded the 'Art for Freedom Initiative'. Art can only take place in a free environment. That is why this name was very important to us. Almost our entire lives are permeated by isolation. Films are censored, or filmmakers censor themselves during production; it is becoming increasingly difficult to publish books. This is war politics. It has already isolated us, and art has turned into an unfree field of production. The main aim of this initiative is to give a voice to all social problems. It is to create a space where artists can speak out against this policy of war and intimidation. It is very important for us to raise our voices against the many violations of rights. Not only in Kurdistan, but in the entire Turkish society, a state of isolation has set in over the past ten years. This is especially true for art. Because the systems and governments know the power of art very well and have tried to destroy it from the beginning. They have constantly disciplined the artists. Today, many artists are in prison. The policy of a government that considers art so dangerous can only be ended by the voice of the artists."

"Our voice against cultural genocide"

Lisa Çalan spoke of restrictions against art all over the world. But the situation has become particularly worse in Turkey, she said, adding: "Society is being robbed of its memory. Forms of action are being adapted to the structure of virtual media. An action takes place and disappears within a day. It is necessary to keep the memory alive. For ten years there has been a regime that has permeated all parts of society. There is a regime that doesn't even let us breathe, let alone raise our voices. There used to be a production network in Turkey and Kurdistan, albeit partial. But unfortunately, there is no longer any talk of that today. The regime has always tried to discipline art and artists. We are resisting this. We will raise our voices no matter what happens. It is necessary to be the conscience of society. We want to touch on all the issues that we consider important. Unfortunately, there is a cultural genocide in Turkey. We will continue our work to prevent it."