2020: A hard year for culture and arts in Turkey

2020 was undeniably the hardest one for culture and arts in Turkey, as it was all over the world, due to COVID-19 pandemic. The State Theaters (DT), State Opera and Ballet (DOB), the choirs affiliated with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, regional orchestras and movie theaters had to pull the plug on all their events in March when the virus was first seen in Turkey.

Opening the season on Sept. 17, 2019 but having had to close the curtains between March 14 and July 1 due to the pandemic, DT performed a total of 175 plays before with 2,655 performances.

Before the pandemic, DOB performed the epic opera titled "Göbeklitepe - Mabedin Hüznü" for the first time within the scope of the "2019 Year of Göbeklitepe" activities in order to contribute to the promotion of the cultural heritage of Göbeklitepe in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, which is considered the zero point of history and has a history of 12,000 years.

On Feb. 20, with the participation of Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the "Göbeklitepe Opera" was presented to art lovers with a great stage show where opera and ballet were intertwined and it had received great appreciation from the audience.

DOB, which closed in March, took part in Eskişehir, Ephesus, Aspendos opera and festivals, while the Istanbul Opera Festival and Bodrum Kaleiçi Events were held under strict measures during the summer. It reached 8,763 viewers in national and international festivals in this process. Opening the curtains again in September under strict coronavirus measures, DOB presented works with a small number of artists to a limited audience.

Movie theater operators had to close the theaters this year due to the pandemic, too, and could not pay the rents of movie theaters in...