On 5 June 2024, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUİK) published a report on the number of cinemas and theatres.
According to the latest data from TUIK, there are 808 theatres in Türkiye. How many of them are Kurdish? What is the status of Kurdish theatres?
Millions of Kurds live in the south-east of Türkiye and speak the Kurdish language (Kurmanji, Zazaki). When we look at the situation of the Kurdish language in Türkiye we can see that the language is under policy of assimilation. Although there are no official restrictions on the Kurdish language, it can be seen that Kurdish culture, language, actions, theatre and Kurdish programmes are often arbitrarily blocked and banned.
Many Kurdish fields and Kurdish works such as theatre, cinema, Kurdish studies, publishing houses, etc. are not favored for many different reasons such as marketing, pressure on the Kurdish language, and assimilation policies. People cannot try to open institutions and organisations because there is no market.
We can say that this is one of the reasons for the lack of Kurdish theatres in the south east of Türkiye and Türkiye. Perhaps it is more dependent on the market and lacking of the persons who do those works. The theatre actor Mirza Metin, in his foreword to Kurdish Theatre issue of Kurdish Studies Magazine, draws attention to the situation and actions of Kurdish actors in the north: For about thirty years, Northern actors have gained a practical situation in the practising theatre (writing plays, organisation, training, setting up stages, resisting censorship and restrictions, etc.).
After the appointment of trustees in the municipalities, Kurdish actors moved to alternative stages and new stages were established in many cities south-east of Türkiye. The Şanoya Bajêr a Amedê (Theatre of Diyarbakir) is one of these groups that moved to the civilian fields after the trustees and established a stage in Diyarbakir after their work of 30 years in Kurdish theatre. We can say that this encouraged other groups to establish their stages in different cities. For example, in Batman Yeni Sahne, Dîwan Academy and Ritüel Theatre, in Mardin Şaneşîn performans and in Van Wanê jî Şanowan were opened.
Because of the absence of a market and many other reasons, Kurdish theatres are few, and theatre actors and theatre groups find it difficult to get theatres to perform their plays. Erdal Kaya, a Kurdish comedian and theatre actor who has a stand-up called Vik û Vala, said the following in one of his interviews on this issue: “When we just started our stand-up, it was very difficult to find a stage. Sometimes we were waiting for stages for 6 months. Private stages owners did not accept to give us their stage.” There was no concern in the beginning because the play was in Kurdish and there was no market for Kurdish. But then this play was performed in many places and became popular, and for this reason, after the theatre had a market, the doors of the stages were opened for his stand-up. According to news from Rûdaw, Vik û Vala became one of the most performed plays on the Biletinial platform in 2023.
Theatre actress Berfin Zenderlioğlu, in an article on authority and art, draws attention to the approach of the authority to Kurdish art and says the following: While the official ideology was trying to sacrifice Kurdish art and Kurdish artists to the mechanisms of the authority, it began to take offence at the Kurdish Theatre, whose aim was to prepare the ground for theatre. Kurdish theatre has been interested in the ‘what’ of art, rather than the ‘how’ of art, and has aimed to establish a creative space.
These people, Kurdish private organisations and institutions are resisting and fighting against the fields of production that the Kurdish language and culture are trying to prevent the government with its policies. For example, the banning of Kurdish theatres. These attitudes and policies against the Kurdish language and Kurds indicate that more or less the content of many theatre plays that consist of criticism and complaints against the administration and the government. Author İnan Eroğlu asks an important question to those interested in such content: Is it really necessary or not?
Let’s see how many Kurdish theatres there are in general (according to current information).
Theatre actor Deniz Özer told the number and names of the Kurdish theatres Botan Times in the south-east of Türkiye and Türkiye.
In which cities are there Kurdish theatre stages?
Van: Şano Wan, Nûpelda
Mardin: Mars û Şaneşîn Performans
Batman: Şano Ar, Yeni Sahne, Araf Tiyatro, Şermola Performans, Rîtuel
Diyarbakir: Şanoya Bajêr a Amedê, Mordem Sanat, Tiyatro Ger
Istanbul: Tîyatro Jîyana Nû, Şa Performans, Dubare Kumpanya, Sî Tîyatro, Şermola Performans
This news was translated by Betül Demir
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