DİYARBAKIR - While 4 municipalities did not make any tenders for the festivals organized by the Ministry of Culture in 5 cities within the scope of "Cultural Road Festivals", it was learned that 3 separate tenders worth 7 million 59 thousand were made by Amed Metropolitan Municipality, which is under the management of trustees.

 

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism organized festivals in 5 different cities in 2022 within the scope of "Turkish Culture Road Festivals". The Ministry organized festivals in Çanakkale on September 16-25, in Konya on September 22-30, in Amed Sur on October 8-16, and in Ankara and Istanbul Beyoğlu on October 1-23. The Ministry did not cooperate with non-AKP municipalities in the festivals where hundreds of events took place, and included people and circles known to be close to AKP-MHP in all event programs.

 

The most popular of the festivals was the "Sur Culture Road Festival". After the curfews announced between 2015-2016, the selection of the historical district, where prison-style buildings were built instead of the houses, whose 6 neighborhoods were destroyed and destroyed, as one of the addresses of the festival, brought along many criticisms. Political parties and non-governmental organizations in the city described the festival as "cultural genocide".

 

BUDGET FOR THE MINISTRY FESTIVAL

 

In addition to all these, there was a lot of discussion about how much budget was allocated to the festival. All AKP members and bureaucrats were mobilized for the festival in Sur. Thousands of people from every district moved to Sur for concerts and events every day. It was also announced that 2,000 artists and hundreds of events were organized. While the said expenditures were thought to be separated from the Ministry's budget, it turned out that some of the expenditures were met from the coffers of Amed Metropolitan Municipality (DBB), which is under the management of trustees.

 

While it was learned that not a single penny came out of the municipalities' coffers for the festivals held in Çanakkale, Konya, Ankara and Istanbul, it was learned that the municipality under the management of trustees spent 7 million 59 thousand TL on the festival with 3 separate tenders.

 

MA / Azad Altay