In 2016, when the municipalities of Diyarbakır, Batman and Hakkari, all run by the Kurdish opposition party, were seized by the Turkish government under state of emergency rule, one thing the appointed trustees all made sure of was to take municipal theatres out of operation.
“It was such a source of prestige for Turkey that a municipality theatre in this country staged ‘Hamlet’ in Kurdish for five years.”
Actor Mehmet Emin Yalçınkaya