A Kurdish-language play, “Qral û Travis”, was banned by the Şişli district governorate in Istanbul just hours before it was due to open on Friday. The play, an adaptation of American playwright Sam Bobrick’s political comedy “Travis Pine (A Man of the People)”, was scheduled to be performed at a cultural centre in the Şişli district.
This isn’t the first time the production has faced obstacles. It was banned by the Patnos district governor’s office in eastern Turkey in January, and faced cancellation in the southeastern province of Gaziantep (Dîlok) just one day before its scheduled performance on 11 February.
Expressing their frustration at the repeated bans, members of the theatre group staged a protest at the cultural centre. However, Turkish police intervened and cordoned off the area in front of the venue. One member of the theatre group was arrested during the police intervention.
The power of governors to ban cultural events has been under discussion in Turkey for some time. Notably, renowned actor Kadir İnanır recently raised the issue, highlighting the impact of authoritarianism on the country’s cultural scene. İnanır pointed to instances of censorship targeting the Kurdish community and highlighted the significant bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining permission from the Turkish Ministry of Culture to screen certain films. “In the end, I think we hit the hardest part of censorship. Do you know what that is? The governorship,” he remarked.
