Despite arguements of modernisation within the Ottoman-Turkish society in terms of import or
imitation of Western models this study aims to disclose the inner dynamics of a rich and
diverse milieu that created its unique hybrid cultural forms through the scenic arts. In the
19th century Armenians pioneered with melodramas necessitating the presence of female
impersonators Armenian women thus went onstage with patriotic motives. Among the two heroes of
the Turkish Republic period are Nazim Hikmet the most prolific but severely censured Turkish
dramatist and Muhsin Ertugrul who founded the subsidised theatres of Istanbul and Ankara. The
last phase of modernism arrived in the sixties with a social awakening towards the conditions
of the rural society ... Ankara became the seat of popular theater after the founding of Ankara
Art Theatre 1961. Mehmet Ulusoy's work in France in the 1970-1980's crowned the final
synthesis.
