As a country with deep religious, sectarian, ethnic and ideological fault lines, social cohesion has been elusive for Turkey in the best of times. Matters, however, appear to be getting worse under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s divisive leadership. Artists and writers have also been dragged into the center of the storm, contributing to further social discord.

Al-Monitor has covered the case of Turkey’s world renowned pianist Fazil Say, who’s been hounded over his anti-Islamism stand and opposition of Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the brink of abandoning Turkey.

The smear campaign by the pro-Erdogan camp against Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and best-selling author Elif Shafak has also been noted by the world media. There are, however, names that are famous in Turkey but unknown to the world who have also stirred major controversy because of their position on Erdogan.

Novelist Alev Alatli, for instance, caused an uproar recently when she said George Orwell and Daniel Defoe would have given Erdogan a standing ovation for criticizing the United Nations for effectively being under the control of five countries. Alatli uttered her words after receiving the Presidential Prize for Culture and the Arts from Erdogan on Dec. 3.