New development in the April 2 boycott investigation: WhatsApp messages become evidence!

Many artists in Turkey supported the consumer boycott held on April 2 with social media posts. During this process, 11 people, including actor Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, were detained on the grounds that they had called for a boycott.

As the investigation continues, significant allegations have appeared in media outlets close to the government.

tv100 commentator Hacı Yakışıklı claimed that Üzümoğlu had established a 170-person WhatsApp group and issued boycott instructions to actors. According to Yakışıklı's claim, guidance was provided in this group regarding participation in the boycott, and some group members recorded the correspondence and filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office.

WHATSAPP MESSAGES BECOME EVIDENCE

TRT also featured a similar report. The report alleged that some individuals in a WhatsApp group named "Actors' Union" recorded the conversations to avoid being 'ostracized' and filed a complaint.

According to the TRT report, it was claimed that Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu and Direnç Aksoy, the daughter of one of the partners of Med Yapım, Fatih Aksoy, organized the boycott actions through this group and encouraged the culture and arts community to engage in street protests.

ALLEGATION OF ''PRESSURE ON ACTORS''

While it was stated that the correspondence from the WhatsApp group was submitted to the prosecutor's office as evidence within the scope of the investigation, the following statements were included in the TRT report:

"It is stated that the organizers provoked actors through the 170-person WhatsApp group to ensure their participation in the actions and had calls made to young people through accounts with large followings. Furthermore, it is alleged that actors who did not comply with the boycott call were forced to sign the group's declarations out of fear of being ostracized in the industry."

According to the allegations in the reports, some actors stated that they feared being ostracized from the industry if they did not participate in the boycott actions. Some group members who were uncomfortable with this situation recorded the WhatsApp messages and applied to the authorities.