{"id":336,"date":"2020-10-15T11:52:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T08:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/?p=336"},"modified":"2020-10-15T11:52:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T08:52:56","slug":"istanbul-authorities-ban-kurdish-language-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/istanbul-authorities-ban-kurdish-language-play\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0130stanbul authorities ban Kurdish-language play"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of a project to support private theater groups having financial difficulties amid pandemic, the \u0130stanbul Metropolitan Municipality (\u0130MM) City Theaters were scheduled to host “B\u00earu” (Faceless), a Kurdish theater play, yesterday evening (October 13), in a first in 106 years of history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Sub-Governor’s Office of Gaziosmanpa\u015fa, where the play was going to be staged, banned it hours before the play. The play and the \u0130MM City Theatres were also targeted 2 weeks ago by the pro-government newspapers such as Ayd\u0131nl\u0131k and Takvim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mesopotamia Culture Center\u2019s theatre group Teatra Jiyana N<\/span>\u00fb<\/span>, (New Life Theatre) was planning to stage Dario Fo\u2019s play B\u00ear\u00fb (Faceless) in the district when police raided the building hours before the play upon the orders of Gaziosmanpa\u015fa District Governor\u2019s Office on Oct. 13. Police ordered the actors to sign a document about the ban, but the actors rejected to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharing information about the name of the theater play and that of the theater group as well as when and where the play was to be staged and as part of what project, the decision of ban has indicated, “As per the Article 32\/\u00e7 of the Law no. 5442 on Provincial Administration, it is among the tasks and duties of the Sub-Governor to establish peace and security, to ensure security pertaining to personal immunity, to maintain public welfare and to use preventive law enforcement authority. It stipulates that the Sub-Governor shall take the necessary decisions and precautions to ensure them.”<\/span><\/p>\n

After referring to the above legislation, the Sub-Governor’s Office has moved on to say that “the theater planned intended to be performed has been considered to disturb general public order.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Municipal Theater General Manager Ceyhun \u00dcnl\u00fc slammed the decision, saying that \u201cthe days that art can be performed freely will come.\u201d \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that we will be silent,\u201d \u00dcnl\u00fc said. Actors Ruge\u015f K\u0131r\u0131c\u0131 and \u00d6mer \u015eahin released a statement in Kurdish and Turkish. \u201cWe can\u2019t perform because they said that we threaten public security, but these stages are our rights. We will perform. We will continue to protect our theaters and language,\u201d they said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The HDP also released a statement on the ban, noting that five million Kurds are living in Istanbul. \u201cThe staging of a Kurdish play is banned in Istanbul where five million Kurds live. This is the fascist mentality that we challenge,\u201d it said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0130stanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya, meanwhile, said that the play was banned not because it\u2019s Kurdish, but it includes Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK) propaganda. \u201cA legal process was launched on the issue,\u201d Yerlikaya said.<\/span><\/p>\n

A harsher statement came from Deputy Interior Minister \u0130smail \u00c7atakl\u0131, who said that \u201cPKK propaganda won\u2019t be allowed regardless of its language.\u201d According to \u00c7atakl\u0131, to say that the play was banned because it\u2019s Kurdish is \u2018provocation.\u2019 \u201cA new provocation and lie. Kurdish theater is of course allowed,\u201d he said. \u201cNecessary legal procedures were launched into those who allowed the play,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu slammed the ban, as he referred to the government\u2019s move to allow PKK leader Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s brother Osman \u00d6calan to make a statement on TV before last year\u2019s local elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s allowed for a terrorist group member who is sought with a red notice to make a statement on TV, but it\u2019s banned to stage a play in Kurdish. This is unacceptable,\u201d \u0130mamo\u011flu told reporters on October 14, as he also criticized \u00c7atakl\u0131\u2019s remarks on the play including PKK propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis play was staged in various parts of Istanbul 20-30 times. Where were you until today?\u201d he asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the \u0130stanbul Metropolitan Municipality (\u0130MM) City Theaters announced to support private theater groups amid pandemic and the TJN applied with two theater plays. “B\u00ear\u00fb” (Faceless) by Dario Fo from Italy was approved by the \u0130MM City Theaters and it was planned to be staged in Gaziosmanpa\u015fa Theater Hall of the City Theaters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Translated into Kurdish by Dilawer Zera, directed by Nazmi Karaman and performed by Ruge\u015f K\u0131r\u0131c\u0131, \u00d6mer \u015eahin, Rew\u015fan Apayd\u0131n and Cihat Ekinci, this theater play would have marked the first Kurdish theater play to be staged in the City Theatres in their 106 years of history if it had not been banned by the sub-governor’s office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local authorities ban the Kurdish play to be staged first time in 106 years in \u0130stanbul Municipality Theatres over \u2018public security\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2753],"tags":[2775,2817,144,2819,2818],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cases","tag-ban","tag-beru","tag-hdp","tag-istanbul-municipality","tag-kurdish-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/susma24.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}