A “Balkan Theaters Festival” will be organized in Bursa every year in spring lead by State Theaters. With this festival, in which leading theater groups of Balkan countries that contributed to the art of theater, an opportunity will be provided for the famous theater groups of the world, mainly for the theater productions of the Balkan countries, to come together.
The Balkan spirit flies equally over all the countries with a freedom without any borders. There are common feelings, rich tastes of separations, loves, longings, sufferings and happiness of Bosnian, Macedonian, Albanian, Croatian, Serbian, Greek, and Bulgarian, who lived side by side for many years. This historical past should bring us joy rather than sufferings. It is the heartbeat of each and every person, who looks at River Vardar, walks by Neretva, watches Miljacka from the bridges of Sarajevo, feels moonlight inside in Skopje nights, cheers up with the beautiful smell of green villages far from all ugliness of Hellas and falls in love in the pleasant towns of Kosovo.
We all know that our great leader Atatürk took every opportunity to point out that the biggest leap for the communities to reach the level of contemporary civilizations was the art. Like many other festivals organized in other cities of Turkey, State Theaters Bursa Balkan Countries Festival will also serve as an important bridge that constitutes the solid foundations of international relations. Organization of an international festival, which we believe will contribute to the development of peace culture, has multiple purposes.
Being one of the largest metropolitan cities in Turkey, Bursa is our fourth biggest city. Hosting many industrial organizations such as automotive and textile, presentation of Bursa’s meeting with different cultural textures in the field of theatrical art has been ignored for many years. This festival aims at regeneration of theatrical art in line with the economical development of the province and presentation of contemporary theater to the people of the region.
We will be more than happy to host you, our dear friends, at the festival in line with all these common denominators.
STATE THEATERS
GENERAL ART DIRECTOR
MUSTAFA KURT