Theater Artists March Despite Prevention: Art Cannot be Prevented
On the occasion of March 27 World Theater Day, theater artists have marched through the streets of Kadıköy in İstanbul, chanting the slogan “Stages are ours, streets are ours.” Artists have celebrated their day with concerts.
Today is March 27 World Theater Day. On this occasion, theater artists have gathered in Kadıköy, İstanbul and marched from the Nazım Hikmet Cultural Center to the Süreyya Opera House despite the restriction previously announced by the District Governorship of Kadıköy. Artists have chanted the slogan, "Stages are ours, streets are ours."
Though the district governorship demanded that artists hold their march in the Tuesday Bazaar Area for "reasons of security ahead of local elections" and due to "the possibility that it could affect pedestrian traffic negatively," the people of Kadıköy have also participated in the march.
Mayor of Kadıköy also attended the march
Organized by the Kadıköy Theaters Platform and supported by the Union of Theater and Movie Artists (Oyuncular Sendikası), the march has been attended by artists Genco Erkal, Enis Fosforoğlu, Pervin Bağdat, Serdar Opçin, Taner Rumeli, Orhan Aydın, Teoman Kumbaracıbaşı and Cansu Fırıncı as well as Mayor of Kadıköy Aykurt Nuhoğlu.
Ending their march in front of the Süreyya Opera House near the District Governorship of Kadıköy, Volkan Yosunlu, a member of the Kadıköy Theaters Platform, has made a speech on behalf of the platform.
In his speech, Yosunlu has stated the following:
'We reject all types of attacks against art'
"March 27 is celebrated as the Theater Day in several parts of the world. Celebrations, marches and demonstrations are organized, telling how the art of theater changes people with people.
"On the other side, theater halls are closed, theater plays are prohibited, artists are investigated or imprisoned.
"We, the Kadıköy Theaters Platform, reject all types of attacks against art."
'Don't give up on the stage or yourself'
Afterwards, theater actor Enis Fosforoğlu has read out the statement of the platform. Some of the highlights from the statement were as follows:
"The world changes with a single cue, with a single outcry.
"When you think that you live the darkest, the most silent moment, do not ever give up on the street, the life, the stage or yourself.
"Take your strength from Pişekar, Kavuklu, Prometheus, Antigone, Romeo, Juliet, Zilha, Nazım, which defy the time; get your strength from your neighborhood, from your homeland; watch, do, be a part of this river flowing for centuries, turn your face towards the stage.
"March 27 World Theater Day is ours, it is the day of all of us!"
'It hurts us when we see artists sentenced to prison'
Serdar Orçin from the Unions of Theater and Movie Artists has also read a statement on behalf of the union:
"Today, we celebrate March 27 World Theater Day with different feelings.
"Over the last years, our theaters and theater artists have been facing bans, preventions and pressures which have taken totally different forms. Yes, the art of theater is perhaps always targeted by political and social power in every period of history and in almost every geography.
"Because theater cures people, it cures the eyes and consciences which the ones holding power try to blind.
"...For the last years, there are theater plays prevented with covert tactics in disguise of 'free market' dynamics; there are artists who can either not find themselves a theater hall due to pressures or the theater halls allocated to them are taken away because of unending 'repair' works.
"There are our artist friends who are sentenced to prison due to the opinions that they express on social media or the comments that they make on theater pieces played for centuries. It hurts us when we see them."
Referring to the restriction imposed on the March of World Theater Day by Kadıköy District Governorship, Orçin has ended his remarks by saying, "Long live the organized solidarity, long live free theater..." (PT/SD)
bianet dış haberler ve iklim krizi editörü. Habertürk ve Vatan gazetelerinde muhabirlik ve politika editörlüğü yaptı. Marmara Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Radyo, TV ve Sinema Bölümü mezunu....
bianet dış haberler ve iklim krizi editörü. Habertürk ve Vatan gazetelerinde muhabirlik ve politika editörlüğü yaptı. Marmara Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Radyo, TV ve Sinema Bölümü mezunu.
One of the leading figures of arabesk music in Turkey and Yeşilçam film actor, Ferdi Tayfur passed away on 2 January 2025 in Antalya at the hospital where he was being treated.
Composer, lyricist, singer and film actor, one of the leading figures of arabesk music in Turkey, Ferdi Tayfur was born in the Hürriyet Neighbourhood of Adana in 1945. His full name is Ferdi Tayfur Turanbayburt.
He developed an interest in music at an early age. He began singing at wedding halls during his youth, and then took part in a music competition organized by Adana Radio. He came second, made a name for himself and began work at the Lunapark Casino in Istanbul.
He began to be known with the records he brought out in the early 1970s, yet his true breakthrough came in 1975 with the album “Çeşme [Fountain]”. The eponymous film he starred in the following year was watched by 12 million viewers.
With the albums that followed, including “Bırak Şu Gurbeti [Leave the Foreign Land]” and “Derbeder [Vagrant]”, he became one of the leading representatives of arabesk music. He became known with unforgettable songs including “Emmoğlu [My Uncle’s Son]”, “Ben de Özledim [I, Too, Yearn]”, “Huzurum Kalmadı [I Have No Peace Left]”.
His 1992 album, “Prangalar [Shackles]” sold five million copies to become one of the best-selling albums of all time in Turkey.
His concert at Gülhane Park in Istanbul in the year 1993 was attended by a crowd of 200 thousand people.
He starred in many Yeşilçam films, for which he also composed the soundtrack. He published books, among them “The Price of Fame” and “I Once Was a Tree”.
Derya Bengi, writer and editorial director of Roll magazine from 1996 to 2009, wrote the following regarding the origin of Ferdi Tayfur’s name:
“His father named him after Ferdi Tayfur, the acclaimed actor and dubbing artist whom he admired... Little Ferdi loved Raj Kapoor’s films the most, he loved Awara, and the touching voice of Mukesh, who sang in the film.” (TY/NHRD)
A press meeting was organized on 16 December 2024 within the scope of the solidarity campaign for the documentary directed by Çayan Demirel and Ayşe Çetinbaş, which focuses on Turkey’s multilingual collective memory.
The musical and political journey of Kardeş Türküler [lit. “Sibling Songs”], a project that began in 1993 as part of the Boğaziçi University Folklore Club, is being made into a documentary film.
The Surela Film team has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Germany-based Startnext platform for the final, post-production process of the documentary.
A press meeting was held at the Aynalı Geçit cultural events center in Beyoğlu within the scope of the solidarity campaign for the documentary directed by Çayan Demirel and Ayşe Çetinbaş.
Both the Surela Film and Kardeş Türküler teams were present at the meeting where a call was made for a strong solidarity campaign to complete the documentary due to the difficulties suffered by independent documentary-making in Turkey.
Bearing Witness
Speaking first at the press meeting, filmmaker Ayşe Çetinbaş stated that the project began 12 years ago under the directorship of Çayan Demirel, yet remained unfinished due to the health problems the director suffered. Initially the producer of the documentary, Çetinbaş stated that she assumed also director’s duties for the project.
During this period, the team formed a comprehensive archive by documenting Kardeş Türküler’s concerts, tours and interviews.
The documentary holds a mirror to Turkey’s multilingual cultural and political history. According to Çetinbaş, the documentary contains witness accounts from the 1993 Madımak Massacre to the memories of Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist murdered in 2007. “This documentary is not only the story of a musical band, but also that of Turkey’s cultural transformation,” adds Çetinbaş.
Archival footage in the documentary display the power of both music and solidarity.
Tomasyan’s table
Musician Feryal Öney, a founding member of the Kardeş Türküler project, also spoke of the witness accounts Çetinbaş mentioned, referring to the dinner table set at the home of writer and publisher and her friend Yetvart Tomasyan who recently passed away on the night of 13 December 2024:
“That table was not only a place where we gathered to eat. It was a meeting point where young people who had come to study at university in Istanbul learned about Turkey on the one hand, while they shared cultural elements on the other hand. We were all quite young, most of us were still in our 20s. Tomo was someone who added depth to the conversation at the table, and thanks to his passion for archiving, often brought either an old newspaper or a now-forgotten newspaper cutting from the back room.
Hrant Dink would tell us about his hometown Malatya, while Tomo would share stories from his childhood. Hrant Dink’s multilingual songs that began in Kurdish, continued in Armenian and tied into Turkish still echo in our ears to this day. Everyone would bring home-cooked food. That dinner table became a school where culture and arts were blended with friendship. That’s where its metaphorical meaning lies.”
N. Evrim Şerifoğlu, the documentary’s campaign director, stated that the call for solidarity was an important step in overcoming the economic difficulties faced by independent art.
The campaign will continue until 24 January 2025 with the aim of collecting the 30 thousand Euros necessary to complete the final process of the documentary.
You can access detailed information regarding the documentary and supporting the campaign here.
bianet LGBTİ+ haberleri editörü. "1 Mayıs 1977 Kayıplarını Yakınları Anlatıyor/1 Mayıs 1977 ve Cezasızlık" dosyasını hazırladı. Ege Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe bölümü mezunu. 2019 yılından...
bianet LGBTİ+ haberleri editörü. "1 Mayıs 1977 Kayıplarını Yakınları Anlatıyor/1 Mayıs 1977 ve Cezasızlık" dosyasını hazırladı. Ege Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Felsefe bölümü mezunu. 2019 yılından beri "Küba" isimli köpekle ev arkadaşı.
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