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Popular Turkish TV host attacked for supporting Diyarbakir teacher

In an illustration of Turkey's increasing polarization amid ongoing clashes in the southeast, Turks are split over whether popular media personality Beyaz spread "terrorist propaganda" by encouraging applause for a concerned caller from Diyarbakir.
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The color white is a popular symbol of innocence and purity. This might have been one reason Turkish celebrity Beyazit Ozturk named his immensely popular program "The Beyaz Show." His stage name, “Beyaz,” means "white" in Turkish. As a fixture on Turkish television for 20 years, his name is a household word. He has hundreds of thousands of fans, especially among the young.

On the night of Jan. 8, something unprecedented on Turkish television happened on "The Beyaz Show." During the talk show, watched live by millions of people, a woman called in and introduced herself as Ayse Celik, a teacher from Diyarbakir. Clashes have been raging for months between Kurdish militants and the security forces in this largest city of the mainly Kurdish southeast. She delivered a message few would have expected on an entertainment program.

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