‘We Will Not Bow to the Ban Without a Ban’

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The March of World Theater Day, which is jointly organized by the Kadıköy Theaters Platform and Municipality of Kadıköy and held in the district of Kadıköy in İstanbul on every March 27 for the last three years, has been restricted by the District Governorship of Kadıköy this year.

In its statement about the restriction, the Governorship stated, "The area where the event will take place is not among the areas specified by the İstanbul Governorship for meetings and demonstrations; the event can affect the pedestrian traffic negatively and hinder the natural flow of business life."

In the meeting held with the officials from the District Governorship upon the request of the Kadıköy Theaters Platform, the officials said that "it could cause security problems ahead of local elections."

'We are celebrating Theater Day, not holding a rally'

* Cansu Fırıncı

Speaking to bianet about the restriction imposed on the march to be held in Kadıköy on March 27, actor Cansu Fırıncı has said:

"It is not possible to be surprised at anything going on in Turkey right now. Actually, it occurred to us that something like that could indeed happen.

"We celebrated the World Theater Day in Kadıköy even under State of Emergency conditions. Today, the State of Emergency has been lifted, but District Governor tells us 'Go and march in the Tuesday Bazaar Area.'

"We are also not supposed to use megaphones or microphones. In other words, he tries to tell us: 'Get out of our sight, be out of sight, shut up and go celebrate the World Theater Day or whatever that is...'

"He says, 'Maybe, I cannot call it a ban right now, but I actually say that it is banned in fact. I am sending you to a place where no one can see you.'

"It is, of course, not something that can be accepted. We are celebrating the World Theater Day, we are not holding an election rally or we are not holding a protest demonstration.

"The World Theater Day is celebrated in all countries across the world. Therefore, there is nothing to say 'Go and celebrate it somewhere where you will not block the traffic.

"We will not obey this meaningless instruction"

"I am only asking this: If the youth organization of the [ruling] Justice and Development Party (AKP) applied to them to hold such a march in Kadıköy, could Dear District Governor address them by saying 'Go and celebrate it in Tuesday Bazaar Area'? I am curious about it the most.

"But, we are not going to obey this meaningless instruction. We will make our statement for the press in front of the opera house.

"Then, we will go to the Nazım Hikmet Cultural Center and continue our World Theater Day celebrations at the garden of the cultural center.

"In other words, we will hold our celebration not in the place that the District Governorship has shown us, but in the place that we want. It is out of the question that we, as theater players, will bow to such a ban without a ban.

"Theater is not a branch of art that knows such bans."

Statement by Kadıköy Theaters Platform

The Kadıköy Theaters Platform has also released a statement about the March 27 World Theater Day celebrations to be held in Kadıköy and made a call to all artists as well as the people of Kadıköy to gather in front of Nazım Hikmet Cultural Center at 12 p.m. and attend the statement for the press in front of the Süreyya Opera House at 12.30 p.m.

The celebrations will end in the garden of Nazım Hikmet Cultural Center with a concert by the Collective İstanbul Group at 2.30 p.m. (PT/SD)