Kurdish theater play, concert banned

Click to read the article in Turkish (1) (2) / Kurdish (1) (2)

The Çayırova District Municipality in the northwestern Kocaeli province has canceled the play "Don Kixot" (Don Quixote) by Amed City Theater.

The organizers of the released a statement on Twitter, also sharing the contract they had signed with the municipality run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Despite the contract, the municipality had informed them that the theater hall was allocated for another organization, said the Seyme Organization company.

"The decisions about the Don Kîxot play and Aynur Doğan's concert are unacceptable against the Kurdish culture and arts," said the company, referring to an earlier ban on a Kurdish singer's concert.

Kocaeli's Derince District Municipality banned Doğan's concert on the weekend, after she was targeted by pro-government groups on social media.

Yasin Güngör, an official of the company, told bianet that they had been called by the municipality at around the same time as the cancellation of Doğan's concert. The municipal officials told them that the hall had been allocated for their play "by mistake," he said.

Another concert ban

The Muş Governor's Office banned the concert of Metin and Kemal Kahraman, musicians singing in Kurdish and Turkish.

The Kahraman brothers were informed about the decision in a phone call yesterday (May 16) at the end of the working day, they said in a press release. The concert was due to take place today.

"By doing this, it was aimed that it would not only be a ban but also a financial and spiritual burden on the musicians, organizers and audience who bought tickets," they said.

"Musicians months ago reserved this day for this concert; the concert hall was rented without any support from any institution, and a fee was paid for it; plane tickets for musicians were bought, rooms were booked at the hotel; posters were printed, paid announcements were made on social media; and dozens of people worked for days for all these..."

The Kahraman brothers called on musicians' groups such as MÜYORBİR and MESAM to "take a stance" against the ban. (FD/VK)