Unguided Blog

The 15th Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival will start on June 07th. If you are around Antalya until July 03rd (the closing date of the festival), you would not want to miss this spectacular event. After all, there are not many antique theaters left where live performances are available.

The event will host Ankara, Antalya and Istanbul State Opera Houses in addition to the international participants, namely Sofia National Opera and Ballet of Bulgaria and Francesco Cilea Theater of Reggio Calabria/Italy.

Various operas and ballets of Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mozart, Minkus and Bellini will be performed in a setting you are unlikely to forget. Don’t miss it.

Possibly the sole organisation for people who have different (with respect to our very normal society) sexual preferences like gays, lesbians etc, has been shutdown by the court on the grounds of:

• protection of the family as an institution
• violation of Civil Code stating no immoral organisation can be founded
• failure to mention the meaning of “lambda” in Turkish in the official name of the organisation.

Honestly, I do not know what to say but “gloomy days ahead!” or something similar, but since we started, let us analyse our exponentially improving democracy in Turkey a little bit in the light of this court decision.

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In the name of following a balanced and less biased view, contrary to what they did to forests in Belek, Antalya, the government did the right thing to protect the sharks (lat. Carcharnius Plumbeus) by closing the Boncuk Bay in Marmaris, Mugla to all. Boncuk Bay is the only place in northern hemisphere where these lovely animals lay their eggs (the second one being in South America).

After giving them a ticket of approximately 15000 usd for renewal of toilets without permission, the authorities have shut down the only facility in the bay. The facility had 3 (three) rooms and a camping area and has been in service for 30 years.

I am aware that our beloved government seems like a pioneer of democracy in the eyes of the many, so I will not comment any further on the procedure. Renewal of toilets without permission, eh? One wonders if the visiting scientists, marine biologists, staff of environmental agencies etc will ever need a place to stay. Perhaps a better, more modern facility is required to ensure the safety of sharks, who knows? Think about it. A theme park of sharks that does not harm humans (they do not)! Instead of a family run business with three rooms, an amusement hotel run by a professional management perhaps? A group of wise people who know when and how to renovate toilets?

But a few things in the story are really amusing. For example let us read what the Governer of Mugla Dr. Ahmet Altiparmak said when asked to comment:

I learned the closing of the facility from the DHA reporter (yeah, that’s why the press is sooo important). I am investigating…

I am, too.

I promised to give the link to the virtual gallery of Istanbul Puppet Festival. Since I moved the events/news to the blog section, the updates will be made here. For those interested, the on-line photo stream of the puppet festival is now available.

Among the participating countries, namely Cambodia, China, Thailand, India, Indonesia, I have found particularly Indonesian entries most interesting, although it is really difficult to choose. Well, it was not a contest anyway. I am sure that you will like them all.

I am a bit disappointed for not finding all of the entries in the photo stream, but the organizers only uploaded the photos belonging to the “shadow theater” division. I would really like to see pictures of especially Burjubas Puppet Group of Fabianne Villareal from Argentina or Stefan Libardi’s Theater Im Ohrensessel (they adapted Grimm Brothers’ fantastic story of Iron Hans - Der Eisenhans) online.

The fictitious character of Zorro that most of us know from pictures and books is back. With his sword, boots, sombrero, mask, his dark costume, courage and sex-appeal finds a fresh breath in the works of Noel Morera. The renowned Cuban artist impersonates Zorro this time. Zorro is not a Robin Hood like figure any more; a bit funny, theatrical, and slightly soaked in decadance. Morera is the new Zorro, without the assistance of his horse Tornado and his servant Bernardo, sailing full ahead to new adventures.

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