(POLS 108)
SUBJECT : KURDISH ISSUE IN TURKISH CINEMA
NAME : MUHAMMET
SURNAME : TARHAN
ID : 02031139
BEING A KURD IN TURKISH CINEMA “The best way of spreading and imposing culture, political behaviour and literature to other states is cinema” my father always says. Then he adds: “For instance, America introduced emperialism and it’s ‘power’ to the whole World via American movies”. Previously, i was not be able to comprehend that, however, after I started being interested in cinema, i realised that gradually. In World history, the first movie was made by the “Lumiere Brothers”, it was just a view of a train entering the station in Paris. In November 1914, during the Ottoman Empire and Russian war, Russian soldiers erected a monument in Ayastafanos (Yeşilköy), Istanbul, and Ottoman army’s reserve officer Fuat Uzkınay recorded that monument with his camera. This historical document is accepted as the “first Turkish movie.” Afterwards, shooting war or document films continued until the last years of the war -1917,1918-, they were related to the supreme commander or Sultans’ private and official lives. After the foundation of the ‘Turkish Republic’, all languages except Turkish were prohibited by force with the Maintenance of Order (Takrir-i Sükûn). There would not be existence of other public except ‘Turks’. Futhermore, with the Zilan massacre (Şark Islahat Planı) which was signed by Mustafa Kemal, the Kurdish language was banned and if one talked Kurdish he/she would be punished. However, What was the role of art during this troublesome process? What kind of works were made in Turkish cinema? How were the ‘Kurds’ and the ‘Kurdish issue’ involved in Turkish cinema? We can divide the “Kurdish issue in Turkish cinema” into three sections: Kurds non-existence 1950s-1960s, uncertainty situation 1970s-1980s, development and solution process 1990s, 2000s.
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