RESPONSE: Turkish Critics Engage

Something Rotten?: Müdjat Gezen Arts Center after presumed arson. Photo: AA

Theatre critics in Turkey report to us that, as theater academics were being expelled during the "state of emergency," a significant theater academy founded by Turkish actor and director Müjdat Gezen was burned. Gezen described the act as a "terrorist crime" and took pleasure in noting that the bronze bust of the hero of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was unscathed in the attack.

The Theatre Critics Association of Turkey responded with a document titled "Something is Rotten in the Turkish Republic." Parts of the following have been edited for clarity:

In Turkey, academicians who sign in support of social peace continue to be expelled from their institutions with a state of emergency decree. Prestigious professors of the Theatre Department in Ankara University's Faculty of Language, History and Geography, were also expelled after other recent expulsions. 

These academics, including members of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) Turkish Section, were unexpectedly and inappropriately removed from their duties despite their professional standing and long experience. With this decision, undergraduate and graduate studies are now suspended. Our greatest hope is that our distinguished professors will be reinstated and allowed to work at their universities following social pressure and implementation of the law. 

Arts Advocate: Müdjat Gezen

As this chaos unfolded in higher education, Müjdat Gezen Art Center, which was created by a private initiative and educated hundreds of actors and actresses, was burned in a presumed act of arson after being targeted by a media channel broadcasting ideas of the extreme right wing. The center, founded by Müjdat Gezen, was damaged tragically. Gezen is one of the greatest actors and directors of Turkish theatre and is well known for his Kemalist and secular ideals. Upon hearing news of the fire, hundreds of actors, actresses, directors, students, and audience members flocked to art center and stood guard outside. 

The Theatre Critics Association of Turkey, condemns this discriminatory and criminal behavior. We believe in the combined resistance of Turkey’s intellectuals, academicians, and artists. We will continue to work toward the restoration of social morality and the freedom of thought through the cultivation of the arts.

ATCA International will continue to monitor the unfolding situation as arts institutions throughout the globe respond to an apparent rising tide of artistic and academic oppression.

REPORT: Theater Trouble in Turkey

#DoNotTouch: Protest Against Theatre Faculty Expulsions 

As the political situation tightens in Turkey, members of IATC have shared information with us in an attempt to raise awareness of what is happening to the arts and artists in what was once a society that prized democratic discourse.

We received a declaration from the Theatre Department of Ankara University, disseminated February 12, 2017, which has been edited for clarity:

Exported: Prof. Dr. Beliz Güçbilmez

Ankara University, Theatre Department professors Prof. Dr. Selda Berk Öndül, Prof. Dr. Tülin Sağlam, Prof. Dr. Beliz Güçbilmez, Dr. M. Elif Çongur and the research assistants Ceren Özcan and Şamil Yilmaz have been exported from duty by the new Decree-law No 686. With Assoc. Prof. Dr. Süreyya Karacabey, who had been exported before by the Decree-Law No. 679, seven of our colleagues who form the majority of our department have been expelled from work in government offices. As a result, the undergraduate programs of our department have received an irreparable blow, and the post-graduate programs are almost out of the question.

Exported: Prof. Dr. Selda Berk Öndül

Exported: Dr. M. Elif Çongur

The exportation of our professors—who have created invaluable works and made undeniable contributions to the theatre world of Turkey—by the laws that pertain to only those who “are connected with or are members of or partake in terror organizations, groups, organisms or organizations or other structures which are claimed by the National Security Council as threats to our national security” is inexplicable and wrong as far as justice and conscience are concerned.

Exported: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Süreyya Karacabey

Exported: Prof. Dr. Tülin Sağlam

These exportations spreading in the Higher Education System, i.e., in the majority of universities in Turkey via new decree-laws has turned into a clearance or liquidation operation. Governance of universities, which are supposed to be institutions of freedom of thought and expression, by decree-laws can by no means be accepted. It is undoubtedly obvious that this attitude will bear critical outcomes and give an irredeemable harm to our colleagues’ and to our department’s future, as well as to our university, to the academia in general and to our country. We here resolve to blame the Ankara University rectorate and demand that our colleagues be returned to their posts immediately.  

— Members of the Theatre Department, Faculty of Letters, Ankara University

An update has been received from the Theatre Critics Association of Turkey and will follow.