Istanbul (AFP)

With his theater located in the heart of Istanbul threatened with closure, Muharrem Ugurlu was hopeful of obtaining government aid as part of a plan to support culture against the coronavirus pandemic.

"We met all the criteria, but it did not work out," Ugurlu, co-founder of the Asmali Sahne theater, told AFP.

"The processing of requests is not transparent, this prompts us to ask ourselves: does politics play a role?"

Many independent Turkish theaters claim not to have received a cent of the aid promised by the Ministry of Culture, accusing it of privileging pro-government establishments to the detriment of those perceived as rebellious.

"All this is political", plague Genco Erkal, one of the most famous Turkish comedians who directs the Dostlar theater ("Friends", in Turkish) and is known for his freedom of tone, from the height of his 82 years.

He would need this help himself, but he didn't even think about applying: "Theaters labeled as opposition theaters, like Dostlar, haven't received funding for years," he says.

As elsewhere, the culture sector has suffered hard from the health crisis linked to the coronavirus in Turkey.

Theaters, cinemas and concert halls reopened in July after four months of closure, but many Turks are reluctant to attend.

Breathless, several independent theaters, such as the iconic Kumbaraci50, located in a bohemian district of Istanbul, are now playing for their survival.

The actors, demoralized, "no longer have the strength to say: let's play, no matter what happens," says a co-founder of the establishment, Gülhan Kadim.

To deal with the crisis, the culture ministry said last month it had distributed 12 million Turkish liras (1.3 million euros) to 328 private theaters, "the most significant aid ever delivered to this day during a cultural season ".

- Opacity -

But several figures of the theater interviewed by AFP denounce the opacity of the process of allocating this aid, believing that it benefits those who are considered close to power.

And even theaters that keep their distance from political controversies are now harmed, according to Erkal, who accuses companies close to power of embezzling some of the cultural funds.

Entities unknown to the small circle of Turkish theater would have thus requested the Ministry of Culture for funds.

"There are many construction or tourism companies on the list" of those who have asked for aid reserved for theaters, indicates Ms. Kadim de Kumbaraci50.

"Who receives this aid, and how much? It is not clear," she adds.

"There are companies that do something other than theater," Erkal abounds.

"Some of them were even created just 15 days before the deadline for requesting aid!"

Asked by AFP, the Turkish Ministry of Culture did not respond.

Along with accusations of embezzlement, independent theaters in need of help face a nagging dilemma: whether to turn to the state and lose its independence, or try to cope on their own and risk bankruptcy.

- Censorship -

The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is indeed accused by several NGOs of repressing freedom of expression, especially since an attempted coup in 2016.

This is reflected in self-censorship in cultural and artistic circles, where certain themes, such as the Kurdish conflict, are taboo.

“Even without talking about funding, who still believes that freedom of expression exists in Turkey?” Asks Ms. Kadim.

"The pressure felt in other sectors also exists in the theater. Censorship is part of everyday life," she adds.

The positions taken have also become an important criterion in the solicitation of private funds, patronage representing a significant part of the funding that sustains culture in Turkey.

The big conglomerates "scrutinize your political inclinations, your tweets, your past," says Ms. Kadim.

Without state support, these independent theaters can count on the support, albeit modest, from their regulars.

"I am very sad. The only thing I can do, for the moment, is buy a ticket," says Hasan Karadeniz, theater lover who came to Kumbaraci50 to attend a play on the eventful life of French singer Edith Piaf.

“My priority this evening is to support the theater,” he adds.

"The play itself is secondary."

© 2020 AFP