The theatre and arts hub Yeni Sahne is breaking down barriers in its homeplace of Batman in the Southeast of Turkey and across the country.
“We believe that art can lead us to freedom. That’s our motto,” says Yakup Selimoğlu, an actor and one of the founders of Yeni Sahne, a theatre in the modestly -sized city of Batman, in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast.
After the Kurdish peace process fell apart in 2015, the Turkish government targeted Kurdish civil society groups and replaced dozens of elected mayors in the southeast with trustees who closed down many public institutions promoting Kurdish identity. In 2016, the Yılmaz Güney Cinema, Batman's beloved cultural focal point at the time, was shut down by the trustee after a suspicious fire, leaving a huge gap in the city’s small but vibrant arts scene. Yakup and his friends felt compelled to build a new cultural centre.
“We wanted to fill this artistic and cultural void and protect our language and create a space that could contribute to the democratisation of society,” he says.
Yakup and his friends opened Yeni Sahne in 2018 as a predominantly Kurdish-language theatre, but it also serves a unique role as Batman’s foremost arts and culture hub, hosting film screenings, concerts, literary talks and stand-up shows in its 130-person hall.
A place for all Kurdish artists
“We keep our doors open as much as possible for any group, individual, or community that has something to say in the name of art,” says Mehmet Sevilgen, another co-founder.
Batman is a smaller, underdeveloped city shaped by internal migration driven by conflict, and often stands in the shadow of its larger neighbour Diyarbakır. Filling a theatre can be a challenge, especially amid worsening economic troubles, but Batman has a loyal, hungry audience for the arts.
"In the last four to five years, Batman has seriously challenged Diyarbakir in terms of culture and arts, particularly in the field of theatre, because there are currently four to five groups actively doing theatre here,” Yakup says.
Yeni Sahne started with seven actors, and now has a troupe of 25, usually playing to sold-out audiences that include everyone from construction workers to academics, teachers to local governors, and Yakup's own mother, who doesn’t speak a word of Turkish.
Resisting cultural assimilation and supporting Kurdish culture in a country where it is often silenced lie at the heart of everything the Yeni Sahne team does. “We are trying to carry out this struggle through art,” Yakup says. “Instead of going to a protest, we can actually make a hundred times more impact with a play.”
Art as a bridge between Kurdish and Turkish communities
They believe that Turkey’s Kurdish and Turkish communities must reconcile for democracy to thrive, and that art can play a fundamental role as a bridge between cultures.
“We produce works in our own language through art, striving to introduce the Kurdish culture, language and people to Turkish society, especially to communities outside our own. This has led us to perform all over Turkey in recent years, and our venues have filled up wherever we go,” Yakup says. “We have begun to explain to the world that Kurds exist, that the Kurdish language isn’t a monster.”
Yeni Sahne’s Kurdish-language productions are deeply meaningful for Yakup, who was beaten in school as a child for speaking his native tongue, and yearns to show what his culture is capable of.
“And now, to be able to introduce my own language to all of Turkey, to the whole world, is an incredible feeling,” he says.
The group also brings the arts to rural regions, where they are most lacking. Last summer, they went to eight villages and performed traditional Kurdish plays for adults and children, ensuring these stories will be carried down through the generations. “I’m very happy that I’m keeping my own language, culture and customs alive,” Yakup says.
An incubator for talent
Yeni Sahne also serves as an incubator for local artists, giving them an opportunity they would never have otherwise had. “We don't just bring plays to the stage, we also introduce new actors and artists,” says Mehmet with pride. One such example is Erdal Kaya, a local actor who trained at Yeni Sahne, later became a Kurdish-language comedian, and now performs across Europe and beyond.
The centre faced major challenges during the pandemic and the devastating 2023 earthquake, closing for a year and a half during the former and later donating proceeds from performances to victims of the latter.
Also, although they are perfectly legal, government authorities often arbitrarily cancel or refuse to show Yeni Sahne’s productions, particularly in Turkey’s western provinces, amounting to a form of censorship. Despite this, the theatre still manages to sell out venues, giving their community a space to breathe, and their popularity only grows, strengthening their resolve to keep going.
“We survived the pandemic, we survived the earthquake, and we didn't close down,” Yakup says. “We plan to keep going as long as our energy and strength hold out.”
This article reflects the views of the grantees featured and does not necessarily represent the official opinion of the EED.
This article includes an AI-generated audio version to offer readers an additional way to engage with the content. As the narration is produced using automated voice technology, occasional inaccuracies may occur.
