Late in the evening of March 8, bulldozers took out more than a hundred ancient oriental plane trees from the gardens of an Ankara theater. Reactions from the public and actors pleaded with the government to await a court's decision. Several hashtags are trending on social media to support that theater in particular, the theater in general, and also condemning the tree “massacre” in the middle of the night. 

Dedicated followers of Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse at this point might feel a sense of deja vu, since the Gezi Park protests started as a reaction to the bulldozing of trees in the park in the early morning hours of May 31, 2013. Gezi protesters have reacted to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) administration’s desire for grand commercial projects, razing buildings at the cost of fast diminishing green spaces in the cities.

The AKP’s relationship with the arts has been challenging. In January 2011, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Kars province on the border of Turkey and Armenia. He reacted to a statue as a “monstrosity.” This was the “Statue of Humanity” erected to depict the beginning of reconciliation in Armenian-Turkish relations in 2009. The renowned artist Mehmet Aksoy had to witness the demolition of his “twin babies” in April 2011 following Erdogan’s statement. Erdogan’s advisers asked tongue-in-cheekily, “Does not the prime minister have the right not to appreciate art?”

The AKP’s uneasy relationship with the arts hit rock bottom with theater. To encourage the nascent arts in 1940, the Turkish Republic established “state theater.” Although it might sound as if this were a state-run operation, it has been quite independent over the years. Government support for the arts enables classic plays to be produced. These public theaters have offices in several cities, and every year they tour the country to bring theater to several smaller provinces. Their tickets are affordable in comparison with private companies.