Tuesday, March 25 2014

About 100 demonstrators protested Friday night with Turkish flags and German flags and banners against the performance of a play about the genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.  "The events of 1915 are events that need to be explored by historians and are still subject to scientific debate," said Aras Tugrul, one of the organizers.

However, neither he nor the Turkish Consul General Serhat Aksen would have demanded the withdrawal of the play "The Tale of the Last Thought" writer Edgar Hilsenrath. Protesters outside the theater have mainly targeted the posters of the piece: They show the feet of a man lying on the ground that a white cloth covers. On the bottom a Turkish flag with a sentence of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "In our history, no genocide was committed.'
"The death of an innocent person can not be combined in this way with the flag of the republic, Tugrul declare Aras. Artistic freedom has been exploited at the expense of human dignity. That is why we are here. This is an obvious violation of artistic freedom. "

The Director of the theater Christoph Nix scored protesters after their silent march through the city center of Constance in front of the theater. "It is your right to be here," said Nix. However, "it is the duty of art to face history." However, before the show, he read a statement from the Consul General of Turkey, outlining his vision. The show itself was not disrupted by protests.

The theater director was supported by the entire political class Constance. "This is something that you need to support," said Mayor Constance Andreas Osner after the show.

Green member of parliament Siegfried Lehmann expressed his dismay at this discussion. In particular, the intervention of the Consulate General described as "unacceptable face of artistic freedom speech," said the Green Party in a letter to the editor. "The public debate is not only appropriate, but it is time to bring to the surface the sensitive subject of the history of Turkey." Even Peter Friedrich (SPD) Minister of Bundesrat, Europe and International Affairs, from Constance and representing the interests of Baden-Wurttemberg federal and European political level was present at the first. "The sensitivities are due to the fact that there is still no adequate answer to the question," said the minister. "Our review of the history of murder, systematic destruction and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Armenians from 1915 shows that it is not enough to leave it to historians to review the law Criminal. To develop a good democratic culture must address this issue of history in society as a whole. This is the only way to develop a good and open democratic culture. I thank the Stadttheater Konstanz have driven this debate".