Erdogan’s Turkey and the arena denied the “human factor”.

On May 28, 2023, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected President of Turkey for the third time in a row at the end of an election campaign devastated by a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which on the morning of February 6 killed more than 58,000 people between Turkey and Syria and more. 100,000 wounded. Erdoğan, despite harsh criticism of the government’s response to the earthquake, asserted that “everything will be rebuilt”, but also threatened to arrest anyone who dared to question the relief line and government intervention in the affected areas.
“La piazza negata” by Chiara d’Ambros and Tommaso Gavidi – broadcast Monday 14 August at 11.35pm on Rai3 – brings together the voices of victims and witnesses of what many analysts now define as “democracy”. Among them is the “Saturday Mothers” association, an association that brings together relatives of “missing” people in Turkey and which since 1995 has been gathering every week in central Istanbul to demand that the authorities reveal the fate of their loved ones. In 2018, the police arrested participants, including well-known human rights defenders, many of whom are still on trial today for violating national security. Since then, the square has been guarded by the police to avoid demonstrations. Alongside the story of these women, there is the voice of a female doctor arrested for her studies on the effects of chemical weapons and the voice of a student, who has returned from prison for two years, who presents herself at a hearing that takes place despite only the earthquake. happened.
The narrative voice is that of sociologist and writer Pinar Celik, who was arrested and tortured to reveal the names of her sources, while doing research on the PKK. He spent two and a half years in prison and the next eleven in courtrooms. Today, she is forced to live in exile because she is accused of terrorism.
The Human Factor is a series of journalistic reports on the violation of human rights in the world
Arrangement by Raffaella Pusceddu and Luigi Montebello
In collaboration with Elisabetta Camilleri and Antonella Palmieri
Directed by Luigi Montebello
Original music by Filippo Mane and Massimo Perrin
Graphic design by William DePaolo