Arrested Justice: Spiegelungen / Verhaftung in Granada

Every year on 19 January, the day Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered in 2007, the Gorki commemorates his political engagement and his life-long commitment to reconciliation between the Armenian and Turkish populations. Following the early release of his murderer in November 2023 after 16 years of imprisonment, we take a closer look at the legal complications related to freedom of thought and speech in Turkey. Arrested Justice brings together the real-life stories of Hrant Dink, the author Doğan Akhanlı and the imprisoned philanthropist Osman Kavala in the form of two productions, a presentation and a panel discussion, highlighting how closely linked their biographies are in the fight for freedom of speech.

Spiegelungen
By Miraz Bezar directed by Miraz Bezar
In the one-act production Spiegelungen (Reflections), director Miraz Bezar stages a fictional conversation between victim and murderer. By incorporating quotes from the interrogation of Dink's murderer Ogün Samast, who was only 16 years old at the time of the crime, Bezar transforms the text into an intense performance, reflecting the contradictory and endless court proceedings surrounding the plot to murder Dink.
With Saro Emirze & Doğa Gürer

Verhaftung in Granada
By Doğan Akhanlı directed by Nuran David Calis
Doğan Akhanlı, a writer living in exile in Germany, was arrested while on holiday in Granada, Spain. Turkey had called for his detention via Interpol. In his novel Verhaftung in Granada (Arrest in Granada), Akhanlı not only reports on that fateful summer, but also on previous, in some cases long-term, periods of imprisonment. Doğan Akhanlı passed away in 2021 and didn’t live to see the conclusion of the court proceedings in his case. Director Nuran David Calis is now presenting his adaptation from the Schauspiel Köln as a staged reading in Studio Я.
With Taner Şahintürk, Sesede Terziyan & Daron Yates

Productions as part of Arrested Justice