A
cooperation of Lefkoşa Municipality Theatre (LBT) and Cyprus Turkish Orthopaedic Disabled Association (KTOÖD)
By
Heidi Trautmann
Deeply
touched I left the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Nicosia after one of the last
performances of the play ‘Tekerlek Izleri/Wheel tracks’ that was widely talked
of for the last months. The play is based on the text by Orkun Bozkurt and
Aysan Özcezarlı written in memoriam of
Mustafa Çelik, the former president of the KTOÖD who died in
2011 of heart failure. Orkun Bozkurt who has taken over the presidency has
never forgotten his teacher, friend, father, for the hope and courage he has
given to many who were bound to the wheelchair.
Whenever I went to a play at
the LBT I saw Orkun Bozkurt in his wheelchair next to the stage; he loves
theatre. He has published several books, the last one being a poetry book with
poems by himself and Mustafa Çelik; I got one copy signed by him, see my text
on my website http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=2328712352#.VWfl0dKqpBc
In cooperation with Yaşar
Ersoy he developed the idea for a play showing the life of a disabled person
bound to the wheelchair, showing the immense difficulties such people face in
society, in normal day to day situations, dealing with authorities and so
forth. Also, the situations they find themselves in due to the ignorance of
society, the insecurity and unintentional heartlessness and thoughtlessness due
to lack of information. Plenty of scenes
about these facts of a disabled life that they have discussed over months were brought
onto stage, and as I learnt from a LBT member, they had often called each other
by phone even in the middle of night to discuss another point of interest
during the creation of the play.
Yaşar Ersoy, who directed
the play, and the entire team of LBT moved
to the stage of the Atatürk Cultural Centre and started to rehearse together
with members of the KTOÖD.
During the entire duration
of the play eight wheelchair bound persons were on stage as silent actors and
in some scenes were coming forward as a whole body to shout into the audience their
appeal to society… a very strong appearance.
(See the list of names of all participants on separate photo)
The actors and actresses got
passionately involved and in many scenes the actually dramatic presentation of
a life in a wheelchair were exaggerated to the point of comedy so spontaneous applause
was given by the audience and in-spite of the sad facts that were uncovered
laughter sat very close to tears in many throats.
A big thank you to the
professional team of LBT and a big thank you to Orkun Bozkurt and his friends
in wheelchairs that showed us so frankly scenes of their lives. I am sure that
the play opened many doors for a better understanding not only in the rooms of
authorities but to the hearts of us ordinary people, and on this occasion also
a big thank you to those who are caring and working for the interest of
disabled people.
I hope that this play will
make the tour of the island and from here to other countries because the people
in wheelchairs and with other disabilities are a big part of our society
worldwide and it might concern us one day.
I found some quotes by Orkun
Bozkurt which touched me deeply:
- ‘Mustafa Çelik
was my teacher, my brother, my father, my friend. He taught me how to stand up
for myself and be proud of who I am, even though, I remain in a wheelchair. He
taught me how to struggle and survive’.
-
‘Our fight is to let us be recognized by our personality, not by our
disability.’
-
‘Unfortunately, it is the “normal” people who disable the disabled like me.’
For
more information Orkun Bozkurt’s website
http://www.orkunbozkurt.com/
and
my text on the presentation of Sevcan Cerkez’s statue of Mustafa Çelik
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=2264676373#.VWflHdKqpBc