Turkish cultural leader placed under house arrest

The leader of Istanbul’s cultural heritage department has been placed under house arrest on the orders of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Mahir Polat, who has run the department since 2019, was one of around 50 people incarcerated alongside Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on 19 March.

The 49 year-old, who has overseen the restoration of more than a dozen historical landmarks in recent years, was first sent to a high-security prison before being moved to house arrest on 9 April after being hospitalised twice with high blood pressure.

Polat is facing terrorism charges stemming from his party’s outreach to Kurdish voters during the 2024 election, when he was almost elected to become mayor of Istanbul’s Fatih district, home to much of the city’s Unesco World Heritage List monuments.

Polat’s lawyer, Erkam Erdem, told the Arts Newspaper that prosecutors failed to provide evidence for the charges and linked his arrest to his “strong political profile” and the popularity of his conservation work.

Erdem added that Polat’s prominence stems from his work on cultural heritage.

“When he nearly won [the vote for Fatih mayor], his ability to appeal to conservative voters who traditionally support the [ruling Justice and Development Party] AKP apparently caused concern, ” Erdem said.

İmamoğlu’s arrest on corruption and terrorism charges led to the largest protests in more than a decade in Turkey, with hundreds of thousands of people marching against the arrest last month.

Thousands of people were arrested during the protests including photographers and university students who created colourful protest banners.

Fırat Yusuf Yılmaz, an independent curator and art writer, commented that the ruling AKP government is trying to establish its own cultural hegemony. “They fear symbols that are freely produced, because they cannot establish permanent authority over them,” Yılmaz said.

“Creative protests are their Achilles’ heel.”