11. Madách International Theatre Meeting

"Enemies swept us away from our homeland... Two centuries ago, prodding our backs with spear tips and wielding sharp swords above our heads, they made us migrants, nomads. They brought us here, and cornered us... Chaos erupted in the country, and the state crumbled. The people fell into despair, support vanished from left to right. We resist somewhere, aware that once we start rolling, the depths of hell await us."

Year 1290... A small frontier principality in the southeast of present-day Marmara Region, once called Bitinya... Surrounded by swamps on three sides. From within that chaos, first a state and then a world empire will emerge. But in the time put on our stage, nothing is certain yet. In the unique world of "frontier traditions," Turkic traditions brought from Central Asia and Horasan intertwine with local colors, forming a new mosaic in Anatolia.

In Bitinya, where they were driven by the relentless pressure of the Mongols, warriors from various ethnicities and religions, along with dervishes, peasants, and warriors under the leadership of Osman Bey, come together, transcending religious differences with their tolerance and sense of solidarity, engaging in a life-and-death struggle between the Byzantines, Mongols, and Anatolian Seljuks. At the same time, they are trying to uncover who killed Turkmen Demircan and his sweetheart, the Greek girl Liya.

As master writer Kemal Tahir intertwines the dynamics of the process evolving from the Ottoman principality to statehood with the plot of a murder story, his novel comes to life on stage. Using the language of the Dede Korkut stories, rituals, folk songs, and dances from different languages meet the audience with a modern stage design and choreographic narrative, bringing elements of Anatolian culture to life.