Second ban on Kurdish theater play Bêrû

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Banned by the Sub-Governor's Office of Küçükçekmece in mid-October, Bêrû (Faceless), a theater play to be performed in Kurdish by the Teatra Jiyana Nû (New Life Theater - TJN), has also been banned in Urfa.

While the theater play by Dario Fo was to be performed in the Tahir Elçi Conference Hall of the Urfa Bar in Turkey's southeastern province of Urfa on Saturday (November 14), the performance was banned.

The Urfa Bar Association announced the ban on Twitter: "The theater play named 'Bêrû' performed in Kurdish 'has been indefinitely banned within the geographical boundaries of Şanlıurfa province, including the city center and its districts, by the decision of the Şanlıurfa Governor's Office dated 13.11.2020.' We respectfully announce it to the public."

As of 8 p.m. on Friday (November 13), there had been no official announcement about the ban on the governor's office website.

It was banned in İstanbul as well

After the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İMM) City Theaters made an announcement to support private theater groups amid pandemic and the TJN applied with two theater plays. "Bêrû" (Faceless) by Dario Fo from Italy was approved by the Theaters and it was planned to be staged in Gaziosmanpaşa Theater Hall of the City Theaters on October 13.

Translated into Kurdish by Dilawer Zera, directed by Nazmi Karaman and performed by Rugeş Kırıcı, Ömer Şahin, Rewşan Apaydın and Cihat Ekinci, this theater play would have marked the first Kurdish theater play to be staged in the City Theatres in their 106 years of history if it had not been banned by the Küçükçekmece Sub-Governor's Office.

Banned by the sub-governor's office "because it could disturb public order," the Kurdish theater play "Bêrû" adapted from Dario Fo's work has been staged in Kurdish for over 100 times since 2017.

In a statement released by the Governor's Office of İstanbul afterwards, it was indicated, "No matter in which language, Turkish, Kurdish or any other language, terror propaganda is forbidden by our laws and such initiatives cannot be permitted in any way."

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(EKN/SD)