Oral history research on Turkish theater movement in the Netherlands

Turkish theater has been subject to various historical researches before and after the Republic of Turkey. In addition to the theater that exists within the borders of Turkey there is also a possibility to find elsewhere in the world Turkey originated theater work. Since the 1960s due to labor migration from Turkey to Western European countries, especially Germany, the Netherlands and France, the Turkish population has increased. Workers' societies, who brought their own culture with them during migration, had an impact on the cultural structure of the western countries. Turkey originated art events in the Netherlands after 1980 draw attention to the presence of the theater movement. An important turning point in this theater movement was the fact that Vasıf Öngören and Meral Taygun moved to the Netherlands and opened a theater school for workers' youngsters thanks to the cultural policies carried out by the Netherlands towards immigrants. Vasıf Öngören spent the last two years of his life in the Netherlands, during which time he contributed to the cultural development and adaptation process of Turkish working families living in the Netherlands. When it comes to 2019 from 1980, theater production of the Turkey-based artist draws attention under the roof of Theatre Rast which is in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Briefly, since 1980 until today, artists originated from Turkey has produced theater in Netherlands. The purpose of this research is to determine the theater events and artists which are originated form Turkey but living in Netherlands. For this reason, this study was determined as "Examination of Turkish Theater Movement in Netherlands by Oral History Method". The method was based on the Qualitative Research Technique and Oral History Research was used as a design. This research, which is based on interviews with living witnesses, aims to reveal information that has been implicit in the past, and to produce a chronological narrative of history considering cultural and sociological elements. In addition, it may be useful to find out that cultural policy makers are aware of the art production of our citizens living abroad. Moreover, the democratic attitude of the Dutch government over immigrant art policies over the years can be observed as a model in this research. Keywords: Turkish Theater History, Vasıf Öngören, Turkish Theater in the Netherlands, Dutch Cultural Policy for Migrants, Theater Rast