Bulgaristan'da Dünden Bugüne Türk Tiyatrosu

The preservation and perpetuation of the national identity and culture of Turks living in Bulgaria, as well as their transmission to future generations, require protecting their native language, literature, and art. Theater, an art form where language, literature, and art intersect, serves as a source of motivation when presented as a sociocultural activity for this purpose. This study that focuses on the historical development of the Turkish theatre in Bulgaria gives an outline of the Turkish theatre in Bulgaria. Theater, which shares common ground with language, education, literature, and sociocultural activities, has also been influenced by the policies implemented by the Bulgarian state toward Turks, particularly as political developments in Bulgaria evolved. After Bulgaria declared its independence, Turks sought to sustain their presence and keep the national spirit alive through associations and amateur groups, engaging in theatrical activities and writing plays as literary works.Turkish theatres in Shumen, Razgrad and Kardzhali were founded within the framework of the politics of multi-nationalism and multi-culturalism in Bulgaria during the 1950s. Experts from Azerbaijan contributed to the development of these theatres. However, with the adoption of the nationalist politics, the endeavour of the Turks in the fields of education, language, literature and other socio-cultural activities were disrupted during the 1960s. However, following the entrance into democratic period in 1989, the Turks revived their activities in these fields. The lack of sufficient studies, which is the problem of this study, on the Turkish theatre in Bulgaria signifies the necessity for further research in this fields. In this study addressing this requirement, the studies on the existence of theatre among the Turks in Bulgaria and the development of the Turkish theatre are gathered through a document analysis. Though there are numerous studies about the education, political relations and literature of the Turks in Bulgaria, the lack of sufficient studies on theatre, intimately related to education and literature, needs to be marked. Though the Turkish theatrical activities in Bulgaria and academic research in this field are inadequate, the use of theatre as extracurricular activity in Turkish courses by the teachers-albeit scarcely- has been a positive development. This study aims to support those interested in Turkish theatre activities that have lost their relevance in Bulgaria and to assist academics who will conduct research on this subject.