UPDATE- Turkish theaters to raise curtain for free

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM PRESIDENT ERDOGAN, PRIME MINISTER YILDIRIM

ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish theaters will raise their curtains for free on Tuesday to mark March 27, World Theatre Day, celebrated around the globe.

The Turkish State Theaters said in a statement that 30 plays would be staged free of charge at 20 different stages across the country to mark the occasion.

Some 8,500 people will be expected to take part in the events across the country, the statement added.

Among the performances are seven children’s plays, according to the statement.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in a written statement said all kinds of art plays an important role in building the nation.

"Art, which is an indispensable tool to establish love, respect, tolerance and peace, will flourish through critical works by our artists," he said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in a statement expressed the hope that theaters contribute to a more peaceful world.

"Today, as we celebrate World Theatre Day, I wish that theaters, like all other artistic media, will contribute to a more a peaceful world and strengthen human values such as love, tolerance and solidarity," he said.

Istanbul’s City Theaters will also stage seven plays free of charge on March 27.

This year also will see the 20th edition of the State Theaters-Sabanci International Adana Theater Festival in the southern province of Adana.

The festival will bring together theater troupes from Germany and Spain among Turkish groups.

World Theatre Day has been celebrated across the world since 1961, as started by the Paris-based International Theatre Institute (ITI).

A World Theatre Day Message is also read out across the globe to audiences every March 27.

According to the ITI website, this year the institute has selected five people -- one from each of the five UNESCO regions -- to write a message: Africa, the Americas, Arab countries, Asia Pacific and Europe.

Simon McBurney, a British actor, writer and stage director, wrote this year’s Europe message.

“We live in a time when it is hard to see clearly. We are surrounded by more fiction than at any other time in history or prehistory. Any ‘fact’ can be challenged, any anecdote can have claim on our attention as ‘truth.’

“One fiction in particular surrounds us continually. The one that seeks to divide us. From the truth. And from each one another,” he wrote.