In the plays called “Muhabir” (Reporter) and “Histanbul,” Memet Ali Alabora, well known for his political identity, makes audiences confront “reality.” He does not use mobile phones but is an excellent user of technology. He makes excellent use of the possibilities of computers and of internet technologies. His identity as an activist foremost in his choice of technology, for he prefers to use Linux, which can be owned by everyone free of charge, rather than the most widespread operating systems. We talked to Alabora, who in November will appear in “Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz” (Hürmüz and her Seven Husbands), about his childhood, his acting and the enchanting atmosphere of domestic and international terminals. Your name is “Memet Ali,” rather than “Mehmet Ali”… How come? MEMET ALİ ALABORA: Since my father is a former communist, he wanted to name me “Memet” after Nazım Hikmet’s son. But my mother insisted that I be called “Ali” rather than “Memet.” So my grandfather said, “Why are you fighting, just name him Memet Ali,” and that’s what happened. I care deeply about the question of my name.

Your family is full of artists. Your father is Mustafa Alabora, your mother is Betül Arım and your aunt is Derya Alabora and they are all famous actors. Can you tell us about your family and your childhood?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: Let me first tell you about my family. I will actually be telling this story for the first time… On my father’s side my grandfather’s family migrated in 1910 from Thessaloniki to Istanbul. When the Population Exchange Agreement was signed in 1923, they were given an apartment building in Şişli in return for their property in Thessaloniki. Later our grandmother reached an agreement with a contractor to have it rebuilt but ended up losing the building. It was like a Checkovian drama. My grandmother on my father’s side is from the Çallı and Pınar families. Selahattin Pınar is my father’s uncle. Selahattin Pınar’s father, Sadık Effendi, was a member of parliament for Çal. The painter İbrahim Çallı is also a distant relative of ours. And my grandmother’s mother, Ismet Hanım Altunizadeli belonged to an old family of Istanbul.

On my mother’s side, my grandfather is from Thessaloniki. My grandmother’s surname was “YeşilTunalı” (Green Danube) in reference to the Danube.” They moved from the Rusçuk area of Bulgaria to Crete and from Crete to Anatolia. My mother was born in Çemişkezek but her family originated from Edremit. So it’s a family that is half from Anatolia and half from the other side of the sea. But my grandfather, my father and I are from Istanbul. And my mother has lived in Istanbul since she came here when she was 18. I grew up in Şişli. I spent my life between Şişli, Mecidiyeköy, Nişantaşı, Gayrettepe and Taksim. Apart from the five and a half months when I did my military service in Babaeski, I have never lived for long outside of Istanbul. Therefore, I don’t know what it is like to live anywhere other than Istanbul.

The fact that there are so many artists in your family must derive from the cultural richness of your roots…

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: The cultural background of my family seems to have been suitable for art. Breeding does not depend only on education, on the schools you attend and the manners your parents teach you, but also on the cultural climate in your home. The food, the music, the rituals, all play a determinative role. Olive oil dishes at home were cooked with lots of sugar. We listened to Turkish Classical Music. My father loved Western Classical Music.

Your father witnessed a very difficult period in Turkey. How do you remember that period of your childhood?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: I owe my birth to the Ecevit Amnesty. The difficult period for my father was after the Military Note of 1971. My father was in the same cell with Murat Belge for two and a half years and he was released after the famous Ecevit Amnesty. He was supposed to be released in 1980, but thanks to the amnesty this happened in 1974. I was born in 1977. So I was not one of those kids whose fathers were arrested in 1980 and who spent a fatherless childhood in the ‘80s. But I remember the 1980s as years of poverty. My father was considered to have a criminal past, because of the Law No. 1402, so he was dismissed from his job as a civil servant. He had been working at the State City Theatre, under the artistic direction of Vasfı Rıza Zobu, when he was fired. I vaguely remember that as he was unemployed, he earned a living by going fishing for a year and a half. I wasn’t much aware of it then, but when I look at my childhood now, I realise that it must have been a dark period.

How did you become interested in acting?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: I was a playful child. I used to love doing imitations and telling stories. I would gather the children together and organize theatre plays. When I was in primary school I already intended to become an actor, but I made up my mind for sure when I graduated from junior high and started high school. When I graduated from high school I took the university exam like all Turkish youths and I won a place in the Istanbul University’s State Conservatoire. So, like my mother and father, I too became a student of Yıldız Kenter.

We remember you as the plucky reporter of Savaş Ay’s “A Team,” that phenomenon of the ‘90s. Were you a young conservatoire student then?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: I graduated from high school a semester early, thanks to the credit system. Having gained this time, I wanted to do something that would give me experience. One day Savaş Ay stopped by my father’s bar. He said, “We are working with bright and eager youths like you, would you like to join us?” So before I began studying at the conservatoire, I joined the “A Team” to acquire experience for six or seven months. But the six or seven months turned into two and a half years. During my first year on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I would go to school and from there to the office, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays I would jump on a plane and fly to Israel to chase news. During my last two years at school I was only a student.

Very few young people would dare embark on such a thing…

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: As a child I was always curious about life. We had a summer house in Yalova. There I would sometimes buy and sell things. I remember that when I was 10 years old, I wanted to sell simit, but my grandmother would not let me. I used to play basketball and I would go to my training sessions on my own. Then I found a French language course in Beyoğlu and started attending it. No one told me to go and learn French.



You are now playing in a play entitled Muhabir at Garajistanbul. Does the play contain anything from your days as a reporter?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: Everything we accumulate turns into something else over time. In the play Muhabir, Mustafa and Övül Avkıran turned my story into a play, taking “reality” as a starting point. I told them about my experiences for eight months, and they took notes. Lex Bohlmeijer was our playwright and Roz Erdem our deputy assistant. Together with Lex Bohlmeijer they obtained a concept out of what I told them. Jan Zoet, Artistic Director of the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, who introduced us to Lex Bohlmeijer in Rotterdam, was also involved in this project. I later memorized the fiction that Mustafa and Övül Avkıran and Lex Bohlmeijer obtained from what I told them. It tells of a period in my life but it also coincides with a period in Turkey’s history.

Where has Muhabir been staged?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: Muhabir’s premiere took place in Rotterdam, on 3 February 2009. Then, after Antwerp (Belgium) and Tarin, we staged the play in Istanbul. We travelled to 19 provinces in Turkey. Last of all we staged it in Vienna, within the scope of the Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival). You can see the whole adventure of the play at http://muhabir-reporter.blogspot.com/, where there is a “Muhabir Günlüğü” (Reporter’s Diary), where everybody can write whatever they wish. 80% of the audience in Vienna could understand English. I therefore performed the first 40 minutes in English and the rest in Turkish. The parts I performed in English and Turkish were subtitled in German.

How did the encounter between you and Garajİstanbul take place?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: Mustafa and Övül’s 5. Sokak Tiyatrosu (5th Street Theatre) is a building block in the history of contemporary performance art and contemporary theatre in Turkey. In the ‘90s there were five independent representatives of contemporary theatre in Turkey: Bilsak, Mahir Günşiray’s Oyun Evi, Naz Erayda and Kerem Kurdoğlu’s Kumpanya, the 5. Sokak Tiyatrosu and Şahika Tekand’s Studio Theatre. Övül and Mustafa began looking for a place to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 5. Sokak Tiyatrosu and in 2005 they rented the Garaj, with the aim of changing the concept and founding an arts cooperative. On 13 February 2006 we met for the first time at a café. I was very enthusiastic about this project so I became involved. There are five of us on GarajIstanbul’s Board of Management. I also work as a Communications Director and that takes the majority of my time. We all wear several hats at the same time. Sometimes there are clashes between our roles as a member of the Board of Management and our roles as artists; sometimes there are financial obstacles to projects that I am very keen on producing as an artist. That’s when it is necessary to make sacrifices.

If we return to your acting career, we remember your first film, Kayıkçı (Boatman), and then everybody loved you in various TV series. You have been on TV for such a long time that it is surprising that you should still be so young.

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: I was 21 years old when I played in the Kayıkçı series, with Katerina Moutsatsos and Mustafa Avkıran. Most recently I played a supporting role in Gölge (Shadow). Now I’m playing in Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz, directed by Ezel Akay. The film has a good cast, it’s crowded and fun. It will be released on 20 November. As for TV series, I have played in five: Kara Melek, Yılan Hikâyesi, Canım Kocacığım, Karınca Yuvası and Hayalet. It is important to create time for TV series, so whenever I have time I take proposals into consideration. As for the subject of youth, I can say that it’s the influence of the A Team. I first appeared on stage in 1995 with the A Team. I was only 17 years old. That means that I have been on TV for 14 years. So people think, “Can this man still be only 32?”

When do “Muhabir” and “Histanbul” open again in Istanbul?

MEMET ALİ ALABORA: We are opening again as of October 2009. Histanbul was written by Kemal Gökhan Gökses and staged by Mustafa and Övül Avkıran. Roza and I performed it for a whole year and we are going to continue performing it this year too. We want to stage it on the “new” seven hills of Istanbul, which is the subject of the play.

“If I am going abroad, I like getting to the terminal ahead of time and to finish up procedures so that I can wander around. I always take advantage of the benefits of technology, so that I can complete the procedures quickly. One of my favorite places within the Istanbul Atatürk Airport is İş Bank Lounge. Before I go to the gates I also spend some time looking through the shops. Alcohol and cigars are what I buy the most. I don’t use cologne so I never buy it.”