Emek movie theatre, an almost one-century-old movie theatre that was demolished 2013 and transformed into an entertainment and shopping mall, reopened today for the religious ‘event’ of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The reactionary stance of AKP towards everything progressive in Turkey becomes most salient in the art and culture. Destruction or removal of statues for being ‘naked’, attacks to art exhibitions by Islamist fans of AKP, on the pretext of service of alcoholic beverages, closure of hundreds of public libraries or their assignment to municipalities controlled by AKP, demolition of many other iconic places.
One of the demolished iconic places, Emek movie theatre, today reopened for the Regaip Kandili, the night of prophet Muhammad’s conception. The organisation, as usual, served to the İslamist propaganda of the ruling party. The young girls were brought to the ancient movie theatre to sing religious songs.
Serving as a centrepiece of İstanbul’s prestigious international film festival, Emek dates from the early republican era and used to be a major symbol of the Republic and the modern art. Its demolition in 2013 aroused the angst of secular and leftist sectors and intelligentsia and was accompanied by sonorous public criticism and protests. In addition, the small İnci Patisserie was closed in lieu of reconstructing yet another mall in the Taksim area. Atatürk Cultural Center, another iconic building at the heart of the Taksim Square in İstanbul has been closed since 2008.
The demolition of Emek movie theatre is a long legal battle that dates back to 2009 when it was closed. Two expert’s reports, one of which is completely suspicious, were prepared during the legal procedure. The first rejected the demolition decision and of the three academic members of the report committee, only one of them was in favour of the demolition. The second report, which approved the demolition, was prepared by two members. One of the members of the report committee did not have the authority to sign by then, while the other, Professor Kutgün Eyüpgiller was the consultant of Kamer İnşaat, the construction company that wanted to build the mall.... Finally, despite the former unbiased and legitimate expert’s report, a local court approved the shopping mall project in 2013.
Demolition of iconic places does not only demonstrate the reactionary character of the AKP but also shows the confrontation of the capital and the labour, which symbolically crystallises in the case of Emek, whose lexical meaning is labour.
