As Turkey ushers in the year 2015, there is the risk of the complete eradication of state-owned yet autonomous arts institutions which, despite such dire conditions, strive to stage performances, go on tours, bring children’s plays to the remotest corners of the country, and try to maintain an artistic heritage which has somehow muddled along this far. In 2014, Turkey’s arts institutions found themselves in a life or death situation.
With reference to state and municipal Theaters, the state opera and ballet, symphonic orchestras, and the General Directorate of Fine Arts, the year 2014 was full of news about the closure or sale of theater buildings, cases of censorship and resignation, while the artistic preparations for the season left much to be desired. Most importantly, the draft law on TÜSAK (Turkish Arts Institution) hung above everyone like the sword of Damocles.
While these institutions were drifting with the current, the public got wind of the final version The Draft Law on the Establishment of the Turkish Arts Institution and the Revision of Certain Statutory Decrees, which proposed radical changes to the management of the said institutions, sparking huge debate. In the light of this draft law, which is set to influence not only state-owned institutions but the entire arts scene in Turkey, let us take a look at how performing arts fared in the year 2014. Before taking up specific cases though, we need to first discuss the draft law on TÜSAK, which is the most concrete indication as to what kind of an arts scene the government plans to create.
The phantasm called the Turkish Arts Institution
Everyone seems to agree that state-owned autonomous arts institutions, especially State Theaters, have been condemned to inertia. Their cumbersome bureaucracies comply with reigning political and cultural codes and artistic concepts, and they need to be made more independent to ensure that their artistic and administrative criteria are reformulated with the contribution of artists. Maybe for this reason and because of the presence of favorable examples in other countries, some do not categorically refuse the idea of an umbrella organization such as TÜSAK and are content with criticizing the draft law. Nevertheless it would be misleading to think that the Turkish artistic tradition comes anywhere near Europe’s historical opera or ballet heritage.
Furthermore, such a perspective tends to undervalue a rich historical tradition which includes the tradition of the Ottoman imperial theatre Darülbedayi, the memory of the orchestras, the know-how of set designers, as well as various crowning achievements. Taking into account the present political panorama in Turkey, various details in the draft law on TÜSAK point to a comprehensive plan that will reshape the arts world down to its smallest unit and penetrate the entire cultural code of the country.
Judging by the draft law, TÜSAK is set to make use of its administrative leverage and grant or support schemes to dominate the entire world of arts, from performing arts to literature, with the exception of independent initiatives that stand on their own feet. This umbrella organization will be run by the Turkish Arts Board, composed of eleven members to be appointed by the Council of Ministers from among candidates nominated by the Minister of Culture and Tourism. That is, the law will crush even the smallest pretense to artistic independence right from the start. TÜSAK will rise up as a headquarters under the complete control of the government, and eleven members handpicked by the government will sit atop the pyramid. Thankfully, at least six of these members will be required to be in some kind of a connection with the arts disciplines to be supported!
All the arts disciplines to be supported by TÜSAK will be managed by service departments, such as the Group Directorate for Supporting Theatre or the Group Directorate for Supporting Music. That is, all the current institutions will be dissolved and their real estate will be transferred to TÜSAK. For instance, it will not be possible to speak of “the artistic heritage of the Istanbul Municipal Theaters” anymore.
The selected few from among the current artists on the permanent staff will be transferred to the Ministry’s General Directorate of Performing Arts to be assigned to “the orchestras, choirs and companies, of each at least one will be established in every arts discipline by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.” That is, if the Ministry decides to keep a symphonic orchestra within its organizational structure, it is not certain whether TÜSAK will keep the remaining staff in their previous position and function. Even though the permanent staff will retain their civil servant status (by being appointed to conservatories, for instance), numerous arts disciplines will be left to the mercy of private enterprise. It will probably become impossible to stage a play in numerous towns across Turkey, and certain disciplines may be wiped off the face of the entire country.
Since it risks utterly eradicating the already limited autonomy of arts institutions, the draft law unsurprisingly triggered a huge uproar, not to mention declarations and resignations in protest. The State Theaters, the State Opera and Ballet, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra and municipal symphonic orchestras issued statements signed by general directors and regional directors; protest rallies were organized and much ink was spilled. This autocratic and centralist draft law, which lays the ground for paralyzing and subduing the arts world, has been relegated to the back burner for the time being. Arts institutions now find themselves in an interim regime, where almost all of them are being managed by deputies.
The TÜSAK draft law may be placed back on the public agenda in a slightly more flexible and ‘democratic’ version; in the meantime, the interim period already offers us general and specific clues about the future.
The reign of “Macbeth” and State Theaters
In a statement against TÜSAK, Mustafa Kurt, the General Director of State Theaters writes, “In its current version the draft law is unacceptable. The draft dissolves all other arts institutions, including the General Directorate of State Theaters. We cannot approve of such a perspective and action.” Kurt himself had been appointed as a deputy by the Ministry a short time ago; however, due to his opposition to TÜSAK he was forced to resign. He was replaced by another deputy, Nejat Birecik, an outsider to the institution, who had graduated from the conservatory before plying his trade at the Dormen Theater. He is well-known for his minor roles in various comedy series on TV, such as the psychologist in Çocuklar Duymasın (Don’t Let the Kids Hear This).
The first action of the new general director of State Theaters was to start an investigation about one of the actors. An actor of the Ankara State Theater, Tuncer Yığcı had gone on a tour with the Ankara Ekin Theater Company to the town of Ordu, which also means ‘army’ in Turkish. In his personal Facebook page, he made a joke writing “Ordu... Göreve...,” which could translate as both “traveling to Ordu on duty” or “calling the army to duty”. In response, he was accused of “provoking the army to take action against Birecik and State Theaters.”
Additionally, in the very first days in his new position, it was claimed that Birecik had sent a number of Ankara State Theater actors to a reception in Aksaray, where they were said to walk around dressed as Tolstoy, Pushkin, Rumi, etc., upon the request of the private company who organized the event.
The year 2014 had started out with a conviction against State Theaters. In 2009, State Theaters decided to include in its repertoire the play Mem û Zîn by Cuma Boynukara, who drew inspiration from the life and work of the Kurdish poet and mystic Ehmedê Xanî (1650-1707). In 2012, the Van State Theater staged the said play; however, its name was Turkified as Mem ile Zin, the Newroz festival was turned into the Turkish ‘Nevruz,’ and a Turkoman wedding scene was added to the play. Boynukara filed a lawsuit and received material compensation in 2014.
In defense of the changes made to the text, the General Director of State Theaters Lemi Bilgin at the time said to Boynukara, “You call it Newroz, we call it Nevruz; is that such a big deal?” Bilgin was replaced by Mustafa Kurt, who was later forced to resign due to his opposition to TÜSAK; however, the apparent reason was yet another case of censorship.
In the play Güneş Batarken Bile Büyük (The Sun is Big Even As it Sets) written and directed by Kâzım Akşar, Goethe leaves the big city, settles in the countryside with his lover, and says to her “I want to sleep with you.” Ministry officials considered that this expression was “erotic” and ordered that the premiere of the play be postponed. Refusing to abide by this decision, Kurt presented his resignation before the premiere.
This example shows that the State Theaters management very closely monitors plays for censorship purposes, indeed, rehearsal by rehearsal. The photos of each State Theaters actor are taken and sent to the ministry; furthermore, before the 2014 season began, it was demanded that for each play, the rehearsal recordings, texts, and list of actors and extras be recorded on CD and sent to the ministry.
A few years ago, ministry officials had scrutinized the ten-year repertoire of the State Theaters and decided that there were far too many plays by Nazım Hikmet Ran and none by Necip Fazıl Kısakürek. Accordingly, after the appointment of Ömer Çelik to the position of Minister of Culture and Tourism, Kısakürek’s play Para (Money – 1942) was staged last year, followed by this year’s production of Sabır Taşı (Patience, 1940).
However, not content with monitoring the rehearsals, the ministry even intervenes with the performances. For instance last year, Shakespeare’s Macbeth made its debut at Ankara State Theater last year, and was staged a few times this year. After Nejat Birecik was appointed as general director, even this great classic became the target of the wrath of ministry officials. Described in the program booklet with the words “While Macbeth and Lady Macbeth climb to the pinnacle of power with cruelty, they also lay the ground for their downfall,” the play was taken out of the program with the pretext that there was urgent work on the set design of another play.
On the other hand, even when these plays are given the green light, they run into a serious shortage of available stages. Istanbul’s AKM or Ataturk Cultural Center, has been long since turned into a giant police station, a ghost edifice; criticized by government officials for its modernist architectural style, it might be demolished, renovated, or used for any purpose. In the most populous city in Turkey, State Theaters now try to stage their plays in the basements of shopping malls, or in tiny, stuffy rooms.
A similar fate awaits the city of Ankara: It has been reported that Ankara’s two most important theater stages, Akün and Şinasi were sold in secret tenders for 33 million Turkish Liras, and will be demolished to make room for a hotel construction. The İrfan Şahinbaş Stage, where all the set design activities of Ankara State Theater take place and whose workshop stage houses experimental theater plays, is also under attack. The theater is surrounded by a forest, whose saplings are cultivated and planted by the theater personnel. In March, construction crews cut down more than 100 trees inside the complex in a surprise raid; and in July, thugs hired by the owner of the neighboring shopping mall under construction shot a hail of bullets at the theater. The Ankara Operetta Stage has long since been closed for the activities of the choirs and companies of the State Opera and Ballet, and General Directorate of Fine Arts. This gorgeous building is now to be utilized exclusively for receptions held by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The Centenary of the Municipal Theaters
All municipal and regional theaters are deeply worried about the future, but the Istanbul Municipal Theaters, which claims to continue the Darülbedayi tradition, seems to be in an especially dire situation in the hundredth anniversary of its establishment. Its new manager appointed in late 2014 by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Şevket Demirkaya previously worked as a school manager, director of a seafood wholesale market, the chief of Ümraniye municipal police, and holds an international wrestling referee license.
The recently appointed general arts director, Erhan Yazıcıoğlu, on the other hand, resembles Nejat Birecik in his defense of TÜSAK, but is an insider unlike the latter. Yazıcıoğlu is also known for his minor roles and dubbing work in various TV series, and the presenter of the quiz show Seç Bakalım (Make Your Choice).
In an interview he gave soon after taking office, Yazıcığlu said “I will file the sharp ends of some of my children, and teach them about self-control. Some lose their control especially in political issues.” Just like Nejat Birecik, one of his first actions was to commence lawsuits against his colleagues. Yazıcıoğlu filed a complaint against the actor and director Nedim Saban, who claimed that the plays Cibali Karakolu (Cibali Police Station) and Fareli Köyün Kavalcısı (Piper of Hamelin) were censored. According to Saban, the role of prostitute in the classical Turkish play Cibali Karakolu was entirely taken out. Yazıcıoğlu and the actor Zihni Göktay had to cede to censorship, saying that the play was too long in its original. It has been also claimed that, the character Cafer’s pun to his lover undressing him, “I don’t want to be undressed (robbed) only by the government,” was taken out of the text. In Fareli Köyün Kavalcısı, on the other hand, there was a reference to stacks of money hidden inside shoe boxes.
From an open letter by the Municipal Theaters actor Hülya Karakaş, we learned that Yazıcıoğlu has taken Memet Baydur’s play Kadın İstasyonu (Women’s Station) out of the program, although the directing work was almost complete.
Like in all the other arts institutions, the management staff of the State Opera and Ballet underwent a complete overhaul. After seven years as the general director of State Opera and Ballet, Rengim Gökmen was dismissed from duty, to be replaced by the Mersin State Opera and Ballet director, Selman Ada. As soon as he came to office, Ada dismissed all the regional directors who had signed the anti-TÜSAK declaration along with Gökmen. Ada’s memorandum on the dress code of the personnel was covered by the media, with headlines reading “Ballerinas banned from wearing leggings.” Antalya State Opera and Ballet’s deputy director Aslı Ayan was also dismissed, allegedly for posting on Facebook a photo taken with her friends on the beach.
“Public morality” and private theaters
Private theaters found themselves in the middle of this heated debate in 2014. From Genco Erkal’s theater company Dostlar Tiyatrosu to Ferhan Şensoy’s Ortaoyuncular, scores of private theaters were refused public grants, whereas Oyuncu Tay fası, which included in its repertoire plays on the last days of the Ottoman Sultan Vahdettin or the life of Alija Izzetbegovic among others, received grants for six plays, in six applications made under the name of different companies. There is more to it: According to article 14 of the Protocol on Support Grants to Private Theaters, the plays must abide by “the principles of public morality”; otherwise, the theaters are obliged to pay back the ministry’s grant in fifteen days, complete with interest. Last but not least, unlike in previous years, the texts of plays which apply for grants need to be submitted to the ministry in advance.
It has been suggested that the ministry has discontinued its grants to certain private theater companies due to their support for the Gezi protests. For instance, it was claimed that Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality banned the performance of Emek Sahnesi’s play Kırmızı Yorgunları (Red Fatigue) due to the actor Barış Atay’s “long tirade against the government.” The Edirne Directorate of National Education shut the doors of the Halk Eğitim Merkezi (Public Education Center) to the play Diren (Resist) by Samsun Sanat Tiyatrosu (Samsun Arts Theater). The play Onca Yoksulluk Varken (La vie devant soi) by Nedim Saban’s company Tiyatrokaresi could find no available stage due to the municipality’s ban. The Kepez District Directorate of National Education banned the performance of the high school play Rumuz Goncagül, due to alleged disregard for public morality and the mention of a ‘pimp’ in the text. The teacher who directed the play was sent packing to another school, and was punished in the form of rank freeze. Istanbul University, on the other hand, demolished its Öğrenci Kültür Merkezi (Student Cultural Center) built back in 1990.
The government’s arts policy is felt everywhere from student drama clubs to well-established theater companies, putting pressure on performing arts under the pretext of upholding “public morality.” Naturally, there are independent initiatives which reject this pressure en bloc. A case in point is the Tiyatro Kumpanyası, which announced that it will return the grant it received in protest of the Article 14 of the abovementioned protocol. This illustrates the fact that the future of the support to private theaters is itself fairly uncertain. In a meeting in late 2014, the deputy undersecretary of the ministry allegedly insisted that private theaters should be given no grants in 2015.
The end of state-sponsored theater?
Appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism in early 2013, Ömer Çelik significantly resembled the ex-Prime Minister when he said: “It is too easy to accuse the ministry of censorship. I claim that the ministry upholds freedoms much more than the ideological captains of the culture and arts scene in Turkey!”
Ömer Çelik also files numerous lawsuits against cultural workers. For example, last year, he demanded compensation from Üstün Akmen, the president of Critics Association of Turkey.
While we wait for the final draft of the TÜSAK law, we could remember what today’s president Tayyip Erdoğan said three years ago about theaters:
One cannot find state-sponsored theaters in almost any developed country. Our goal is not to create a private management, but to privatize theaters. Once privatized, they will be free to stage any play they like. When necessary, the government will provide sponsorship or support to a play we like. Here is freedom for you; stage the play you wish, whenever, however. No one will hold you back. But I am sorry, you just cannot receive a salary from municipal theaters and then put down the management. No way.
Let us go back to the beginning and lend an ear to the criticisms of Yücel Erten, an ex-general director of the State Theaters. In an interview, suggesting that the leaders of the ruling party who accuse the Turkish theatrical tradition of “intellectual despotism,” “don’t have the slightest conception about what art is,” Erten gives the following example from Erzurum: “TÜSAK is not designed to ameliorate or develop arts institutions. It is designed to destroy these institutions. One example will suffice to illustrate the importance of these institutions: A few years ago, Erzurum State Theater took the children’s play Bremen Mızıkacıları (Town Musicians of Bremen) on a tour of 17 district centers. According to a survey by the governor’s office, 10,000 -11,000 thousand kids watched the play in these 17 districts. 92% of the children saw a play for the first time in their lives. For the remaining 8%, it was only the second time after previous year’s tour. Here is the problem: If you dissolve state theater, opera and ballet institutions and submit the sector to the whim of private enterprise, how will the private sector, driven only by profit, offer such services?”
The year 2015 is set to be a year of uncertainties for public arts institutions. If the draft law on TÜSAK is approved by the national assembly, the heritage of century-old institutions will be demolished and a central organ will take complete control of artistic activities. Even if the draft law is not approved as it is and the institutions survive, it is difficult to see how they can become autonomous under the present circumstances. It seems that in the year 2015 both public and private institutions will find themselves in a struggle of life and death, fiercer than in previous years.