Consultant to Turkey’s state theater appointed irregularly, says main opposition deputy

Umut Erdem ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Candan Yüceer has sent a parliamentary question to Turkish Culture Minister Ömer Çelik, claiming that an “office assistant” was appointed as a consultant of the head of the State Theaters (DT) in a clear example of corruption.

Yüceer claimed in a parliamentary question that newly appointed DT General Director Nejat Birecik had appointed a person who was only an office assistant as his consultant.

However, the alleged “office assistant,” Murat Demirbaş, told daily Hürriyet that he was the current editor-in-chief of a magazine on theater, opera and ballet called “Sahne” (Stage) and he was not an office assistant.

Demirbaş said he did not have any idea where the allegations stemmed from and presented his resumé to refute the allegations.

Demirbaş started his professional acting career at the Ankara Art Theater (AST) in 1994 and continued acting and directing a number of plays across a number of different theaters, before becoming the "Sahne" editor.

In the parliamentary question, Yüceer, who is a member of the CHP culture and arts platform, claimed that there was no “general director consultant” position according to the DT regulation, but Birecik had appointed Demirbaş irregularly to the post and had also allocated an official car to the consultant, which actually belonged to the main director.