The mentality that burned down Şan and demolished Reks will only trail behind in the Olympics

The Paris Olympics have concluded, and according to reports, for the first time in 40 years, Turkey did not win a single gold medal at an Olympics. In the ranking of countries with the most medals, the world's 7 most developed democratic countries took the top spots; the only exception was China.

We are not surprised.

The mentality that has governed Turkey for nearly a quarter of a century is, unfortunately, far removed from the Olympics, sports, art, and culture.

First of all, they think sports is only football, and you can easily understand how that is managed by looking at the federation elections; even if you are tried for holding a referee hostage, you receive support and get promoted.

Even the fact that the women's volleyball team—who we should protect like the apple of our eye, but who are instead subjected to 'lavuk' (slang for arrogant/disrespectful) attacks and attempts to demonize them by using their private lives as an excuse—finished fourth in the Olympics is a great success in this environment.

The biggest secret behind America winning 126 medals should be sought in the investments universities there make in sports; they provide all kinds of comfort just so students can engage in sports. In our country, not only do young people not have time for sports because they are busy going to private tutoring centers, but the biggest sports facility in the newly opened 'apartment universities' is, unfortunately, a single table tennis table. But these facts do not bother those appointed to manage these apartment universities at all. On the contrary, they even avoid opening the existing football fields for year-end graduation ceremonies.

In such an environment, it turns out another monument of culture and art has been targeted; a board, which even has the word 'Conservation' in its name, has issued a demolition order for the Reks Cinema in Kadıköy. Interestingly, the board waited for the day the chairman was on leave to make this decision, which implies the chairman would have opposed it.

Reks Cinema is a monumental structure that is one of the factors contributing to the artistic and cultural distinctiveness of Kadıköy, where it is located. According to a press release distributed by those resisting the demolition of Reks, even Afife Jale, Turkey's first female theater actress, performed there.

Now I can almost hear some people saying, if Afife Jale performed there, wouldn't demolishing this place be a priority task anyway?

Why, you ask? Let us explain.

As is well known, Afife Jale stepped onto the theater stage on April 13, 1919. However, as the first act of the play in Kadıköy was ending, the police, having received a tip-off that “a Muslim Turkish girl is acting in the theater,” raided the theater. The play was interrupted. The police wanted to capture Afife, but with the help of her friends, the young girl managed to escape. Although the artist escaped the initial raids, she was caught in a subsequent raid and taken away by the police. It was said that she was tortured while in custody. After she was caught, a smear campaign was launched against her by certain circles, claiming she “opposed the state, opposed her religion and her nation.” In fact, immediately after this incident, an official decision was taken, and Muslim women were strictly forbidden from acting in the theater. Darülbedayi also terminated Afife Jale's employment. Even her father disowned Afife at the age of 17 because of her interest in theater and her appearance on stage. Afife suddenly became a young, lonely woman with no money and nowhere to stay; she fell into financial hardship and suffered a breakdown. After difficult years, in 1923, when Atatürk lifted the ban on Turkish women appearing on stage, Afife finally began to practice her profession freely.

In short, it seems that those who opposed Afife Jale acting in the theater a century ago now want to demolish the theater where she performed, now that they have the opportunity. And they are doing this by signing a report while the board chairman is on leave—that is, by doing it 'by the book.'

In our country, demolishing theaters and burning down theaters is something that has always happened; how did the Şan Theater disappear?

As long as there are incompetent cadres who demolish theaters and are hostile to art and culture, the country will only trail behind in the Olympics.