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PLAYWRIGHTS CENSORING THEIR PLAYS, PROMINENT TURKISH ACTOR SAYS
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Nov 19 2014
ISTANBUL
Turkish theater legend Genco Erkal, speaking to Ahmet Hakan of daily
Hurriyet, has claimed that many playwrights censor their plays to
receive support from local municipalities.
"Many playwrights agree to meet the requirements of municipalities
in order to receive financial support. They change the text of their
plays; they change costumes and remove parts from the play. They make
the plays reasonable enough," Erkal said.
Upon a question about the withdrawal of state support for private
theaters, Erkal said his theater had not received support for a year
because of its support for the Gezi events, and claimed the situation
is also the same for theaters staging political plays.
"For example, one night the actors posted a tweet, saying 'we are
canceling the play tonight; we will all go to Gezi together.' But
in reality the audience number was too low - about 15-20 - in the
theater that night and they posted it to save face," he said.
"Censorship was excessive in the era following the Sept. 12, 1980
coup. We wanted to perform YaÅ~_ar Kemal's 'The Legend of Mount
Ararat.' The play did not have an element to bother the government,
but the words 'Kurdish landlords' were used in a few sentences. The
censorship committee examined the play's text and highlighted this
term in red, saying 'the words Kurdish landlords cannot be used in
this play,'" he added.
No ministry support
During budget talks in Parliament on Nov. 18, Culture and Tourism
Minister Omer Celik said his ministry would not support "plays that
have hate crimes or scenes of sexual violence," following criticism
from opposition deputies.
"If a privately owned theater's play [which requests the ministry's
support] has a hate crime, scene of sexual violence or any statement
that depicts Turks as having committed genocide, insults Kurds,
marginalizes Alevis or has any statement that rules out the [presence
of] Armenians, then my stance is clear. I will not spend the financial
sources accumulated by our citizens' taxes on these plays," said Celik.
November/19/2014
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/playwrights-censoring-their-plays-prominent-turkish-actor-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=74543&NewsCatID=384
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Nov 19 2014
ISTANBUL
Turkish theater legend Genco Erkal, speaking to Ahmet Hakan of daily
Hurriyet, has claimed that many playwrights censor their plays to
receive support from local municipalities.
"Many playwrights agree to meet the requirements of municipalities
in order to receive financial support. They change the text of their
plays; they change costumes and remove parts from the play. They make
the plays reasonable enough," Erkal said.
Upon a question about the withdrawal of state support for private
theaters, Erkal said his theater had not received support for a year
because of its support for the Gezi events, and claimed the situation
is also the same for theaters staging political plays.
"For example, one night the actors posted a tweet, saying 'we are
canceling the play tonight; we will all go to Gezi together.' But
in reality the audience number was too low - about 15-20 - in the
theater that night and they posted it to save face," he said.
"Censorship was excessive in the era following the Sept. 12, 1980
coup. We wanted to perform YaÅ~_ar Kemal's 'The Legend of Mount
Ararat.' The play did not have an element to bother the government,
but the words 'Kurdish landlords' were used in a few sentences. The
censorship committee examined the play's text and highlighted this
term in red, saying 'the words Kurdish landlords cannot be used in
this play,'" he added.
No ministry support
During budget talks in Parliament on Nov. 18, Culture and Tourism
Minister Omer Celik said his ministry would not support "plays that
have hate crimes or scenes of sexual violence," following criticism
from opposition deputies.
"If a privately owned theater's play [which requests the ministry's
support] has a hate crime, scene of sexual violence or any statement
that depicts Turks as having committed genocide, insults Kurds,
marginalizes Alevis or has any statement that rules out the [presence
of] Armenians, then my stance is clear. I will not spend the financial
sources accumulated by our citizens' taxes on these plays," said Celik.
November/19/2014
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/playwrights-censoring-their-plays-prominent-turkish-actor-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=74543&NewsCatID=384