RESOLUTION REGARDING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN TURKISH THEATRE

The European group of the International Federation of Actors (EuroFIA) brings together performers’ unions, guilds and professional associations from across the EU, EFTA and neighbouring countries, representing tens of thousands of performers in live theatre and the recorded media across Europe.

EuroFIA has noted with grave concern the statement delivered by its member union AUT, Turkey (annexed to this Resolution) at its most recent meeting.

EuroFIA recalls:

- That the first article of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, to which Turkey acceded at the end of 2017, is the “Principle of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”, which sets out that “Cultural diversity can be protected and promoted only if human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression, information and communication, as well as the ability of individuals to choose cultural expressions, are guaranteed. No one may invoke the provisions of this Convention in order to infringe human rights and fundamental freedoms as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or guaranteed by international law, or to limit the scope thereof”;

- That the first objective enshrined in the FIA constitution is “the safeguarding and the development of live theatre, one of the means of expression best suited to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the world”.

EuroFIA resolves:

- To express its full solidarity and support for AUT in their struggle for artistic freedom in Turkey, in particular in the field of theatre;

- To condemn the political pressure on artists, the banning and censoring of theatre plays and the shocking imprisonment of performers described in the annexed AUT statement;

- To call upon the Turkish authorities to end the repressive practices that are damaging the theatre sector; grievously harming freedom of artistic expression and creating fear and censorship in the Live Performance Sector in Turkey.

Hamburg, Germany, 13th June 2019

Annex: Statement About The Freedom of Artistic Expression in Turkish Theatre

As the Actors’ Union of Turkey (AUT), we are deeply sad to report growing political pressure over artists, interdictions, obstructions as well as new ‘post-modern’ ways of censorship, notably in the field of theatre in Turkey for the last couple of years. In 2016, we reported the situation of the actors in the Municipal Theatre of Istanbul which made subject to an emergency motion at the 21st Congress of the International Federation of Actors. In 2017-2018 season, the theatre play called ‘Sadece Diktatör’ (Only Dictator), performed by one of our members Barış Atay, was banned first in several cities by local governors and then on whole national grounds. Unfortunately, the 2018-2019 theatre season witnessed new and strange ‘post-modern’ ways of obstruction and interdictions. The representation of the play performed by our member Levent Üzümcü – who was also dismissed from Istanbul Municipal Theatre because of his speech at the International Socialist – named ‘Anlatılan Senin Hikayendir’ (It is your story that is told) on the 10th of January in Hatay was cancelled by the decision of a school which allocated him its theatre room. Similarly, a performer, Cansu Fırıncı, prepared a play called ‘Taranta Babu’ya Mektuplar’ (Letters To Taranta Babu) inspired by a poem by Nazım Hikmet, which was cancelled by Amasya Municipality on May 08, 2019 without providing any reason. After the media coverage of the story, Amasya Mayor made a statement to the press saying that ‘Ramadan is not a time to “confuse people’s minds with Nazım Hikmet”.

Another play by Tiyatro Boğaziçi entitled ‘Artık Bir Davran Var’ (Now You Have A Trial) adapted from Kafka’s famous ‘Der Prozess’ was first accepted to Bursa Nilüfer Theatre Festival and then removed from the program by an arbitrary decision without any given reason. Similarly, the play called ‘Azizname’ composed of Aziz Nesin’s stories was cancelled by Serdivan Municipality (a district of Sakarya) without any explanation. Moreover, Adana Municipality banned the Kurdish Theatre Days on February 2019 with the justification that this theatre activity could threaten ‘public safety’. Among the banned plays, there are ‘Tartuffe’ from Moliere and ‘Kozalar’ from Adalet Ağaoğlu.

More tragically, there are currently theatre actors in prison. One of our members, Cenk Dost Verdi has been in prison for almost 300 days because of his social media postings. A young theatre actress, Nazlı Masatçı from Izmir Yenikapı Theatre, has been sentenced to prison with the accusation of ‘making propaganda for terrorist organisation’ in a street performance adapted from Gogol’s ‘Coat’ in 2015 and has been in jail since the 30th of January 2019. Today, theatre artists in Turkey feel strong pressure and fear of being subject to a trial because of ‘insulting to the “State Authorities” or a similar reason when they are exercising their jobs and playing on the stage. Some of them even consider moving abroad because of feeling threatened in Turkey.

As AUT, we urge all authorities, national and local, to end their hostile behaviours vis-a-vis theatre artists, to stop seeing theatre as a devil, not to use the term ‘theatre’ with a completely negative connotation in order to designate political corruption or lies and to undertake all necessary measure in order to ensure total freedom of artistic expression for all theatre groups and actors in Turkey. We would like to kindly invite FIA and all our sister Unions across Europe and around the world to condemn the absence of total freedom of artistic expression and to support us in our efforts to ensure artistic freedom in Turkey, notably in the field of theatre.

In solidarity,

Actors’ Union of Turkey