In the recent days, Turkish government attacks on Turkish State Theatres, Directorate General of State Opera and Ballet and Symphony Orchestras. In 2012, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that they would be privatized. Not surprisingly, three separate draft laws have been prepared regarding State Theaters and State Opera and Ballet by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. One of these draft laws was leaked by the press few days ago. The titles in the draft are the following:
- · Current art institutions will be closed and Turkish Art Council will be created instead of current institutions! This council will be a decision body for all artistic activities!
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- According to the draft, this council will consist of 11 members. While 6 of these members will be artists who are competent and specialist on the artistic activities, other members will be bureaucrats who graduated from administrative sciences. All members will be appointed by the Council of Ministers with the proposal of the Minister of Culture and Tourism. Accordingly, Turkish Art Council will not be an independent institution.
- Turkish Art Council only will decide art projects to be supported.
- Turkish Art Council’s main source of income will be provided by the National Lottery Fund and its support fund will not exceed 50% of the project cost. This means that Turkish Art Council will not provide long-term financial guarantee for artistic activities.
- · This system is implemented in England, but it is not applicable or transitable for Turkey. In England, Arts Council England has a national council of 15 members including the Chair. The national council consists of representatives of the arts community with six of the members also representing the regional councils and one seat reserved for a Black or Asian person. Each member must be a specialist on the arts as practicing artists or arts administrators; as senior academics; or as public or private sector executives. Furthermore, between 2011 and 2015, Art Council England will invest £1.4 billion of public money from government and an estimated £1 billion from the National Lottery.
- · According to the statistics, while Turkish government’s culture expenditure per capita is approximately 10 Euro, this figure reachs 143 Euro in England and 112 Euro in Italy. In short, we can say that Turkish government’s culture expenditure per capita is significantly less than other European countries.
- · To sum up, Turkish Art Council will become an element of oppression and censor on the art institutions in Turkey. It is clear that if this draft becomes law, the government will allow only some artistic activities which are close to their political view.
KULTUR SANAT-SEN / TURKEY
EXECUTIVE BOARD
