L’INTERNATIONALE CONFEDERATION MUSEUM CALL FOR A DIALOGUE IN TR

For the last three weeks Turkey was filled with protest against the government. What started as a occupy movement to protect Gezi Park, an park in inner-city Istanbul, has grow to a multicity protest. The people protest against police violence, against the non-compromising attitude of the state and laws that limit personal and private choices.

The directors of the new confederation of European museums, L'Internationale, reacted to the continuing  protest by launching a call for more dialogue.  This is the complete letter:

As public cultural institutions dedicated to the sharing and support of a wide range of ideas and information, we deplore the violent suppression of legitimate public protest in Turkey. We call upon the Turkish government to refrain from any further incitement and to cease its defamation of cultural actors and unproven accusations against so-called “foreign agents". We call upon the government to announce immediate plans to open dialogue with a broad range of civil society actors.

The actions of the Turkish government over the past months in the field of culture have reduced artistic diversity and capacity. The space where social, political and cultural differences can be explored and peacefully exchanged with full respect for antagonistic opinions has been dangerously reduced in the name of narrow political orthodoxy. The suppression of independent voices within the widely respected and celebrated Turkish cultural field, through public condemnation and legal threats, direct interference in artistic programming or through the closure of key public institutions under the guise of redevelopment, is unacceptable.

The government seriously risks damaging the diverse and successful artistic activities built up over the past ten years and more in Turkey. We therefore call upon the government to support the principle of artistic liberty and the independence of cultural institutions and to seek to open up new forums for dialogue and the rebuilding of trust.

L’Internationale confederation museum directors:

• Bart De Baere – Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium);
• Zdenka Badovinac – Moderna Galerija (MG, Ljubljana, Slovenia);
  Manuel Borja-Villel – Museo nacional centro de arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS,Madrid, Spain);
• Charles Esche – Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, the Netherlands);
• Vasif Kortun – SALT (Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey);
• Bartomeu Marí – Museu d’art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA, Barcelona, Spain).