“Just Dictator,” a play starring critical actor Barış Atay, was not allowed to be performed in Hopa following a ban in the provincial city of Artvin, Sendika.org reported on Sunday.
Atay on Saturday protested the ban on Twitter, saying the streets of Hopa were filled with police after the municipality announced that the play had been cancelled.
In response to the official ban, the Hopa People’s House announced that the play would be performed at the Yeni Emre Wedding Salon.
“’Just Dictator’ shows what we have been facing. They [the government] show it to us in practice. You won’t see any play that is better than the reality,” said Atay, speaking to a crowd in front of the Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Cultural Center in Artvin.
People’s Houses (Halkevleri) stated that the Artvin Governor’s Office imposed the ban despite a court decision allowing it.
“Just Dictator,” first performed in November 2015, had previously been prohibited in the cities of Ankara, Van, Antalya, Burdur, Denizli, Uşak, Alaşehir, Manisa and Konya. (turkishminute.com)
