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Culture
File photo of a Kurdish performance of the play Beru in Turkey. Photo submitted by director Nazmi Karaman
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The showing of an Italian play performed in the Kurdish language has been banned in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sanliurfa (Riha in Kurdish), following a similar order in Istanbul last month. The director told Rudaw English he is “shocked” by the banning.
The Sanliurfa Bar Association, which organized the event, said in a tweet on Friday that they had been informed by local authorities that they cannot perform the Kurdish version of Beru (Faceless) in the province.
Beru is a comedic play translated from "Trumpets and Raspberries,” a work by Italian satirist, playwright, and Nobel-prize-winner Dario Fo.
Nazmi Karaman, the play’s director, told Rudaw English late Friday that he is “shocked” by the play’s barring as “there is nothing wrong with the content of the play. It has been played in Kurdish in the last three years with no problem.”
”We had planned to perform our play in Riha tomorrow. We went to the airport, but one hour before it took off we received the news. We were told that the play had been banned.”
He added that they were told the police had said the ban is related to the embargoed Istanbul play, noting there is an ongoing trial.
The play was banned in Istanbul on October 13, hours before the Teatra Jiyana Nu (New Life Theatre) group was scheduled to perform it.
The Istanbul ban was condemned by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) as well as the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu.
Kurds are allowed to speak their language in Turkey only in informal settings. The language was almost totally banned in the country before the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002. The party gave Kurds some limited cultural freedom, especially during a ceasefire between the government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in 2015.
The Sanliurfa Bar Association, which organized the event, said in a tweet on Friday that they had been informed by local authorities that they cannot perform the Kurdish version of Beru (Faceless) in the province.
Beru is a comedic play translated from "Trumpets and Raspberries,” a work by Italian satirist, playwright, and Nobel-prize-winner Dario Fo.
Nazmi Karaman, the play’s director, told Rudaw English late Friday that he is “shocked” by the play’s barring as “there is nothing wrong with the content of the play. It has been played in Kurdish in the last three years with no problem.”
”We had planned to perform our play in Riha tomorrow. We went to the airport, but one hour before it took off we received the news. We were told that the play had been banned.”
He added that they were told the police had said the ban is related to the embargoed Istanbul play, noting there is an ongoing trial.
The play was banned in Istanbul on October 13, hours before the Teatra Jiyana Nu (New Life Theatre) group was scheduled to perform it.
The Istanbul ban was condemned by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) as well as the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu.
Kurds are allowed to speak their language in Turkey only in informal settings. The language was almost totally banned in the country before the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002. The party gave Kurds some limited cultural freedom, especially during a ceasefire between the government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in 2015.
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