Press Release 2026/1

PRESS BULLETIN 2026/1

In a three-hour meeting held with Ministry of Culture and Tourism officials at the Ministry on Wednesday, 21 January 2026, our union's Executive Board assessed the current situation regarding the working conditions and financial rights of the artists serving in the art institutions attached to the Ministry.

Present at the meeting on behalf of the Ministry was Ms. Ayşegül Genç, Adviser to Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Batuhan Mumcu; on behalf of Kültür Emek-Sen, President Yavuz Demirkaya, General Secretary Alper Tazebaş and Legal and Collective Bargaining Secretary Burç Balcı took part.

Topics addressed at the meeting:

• —The risks at the Sivas State Theatre, found to lack earthquake resistance yet still kept open to service
• —Administrative and operational problems at the State Theatres
• —4/B practices as an artist-employment model and the effects of halting trainee-artist recruitment
• —The adverse financial situation of current 4/B artists and technical staff
• —Income losses of permanent artists and technical staff resulting from the across-the-board raise practice
• —Inequalities in the criteria for incentive bonuses
• —Late payment of travel allowances
• —Inequalities in supplementary-payment practices for artist-administrators
• —Problems with fixed-asset instrument and attire allocations in the symphony orchestras
• —Deductions and practices resulting from the DÖSİMM circulars

Ministry officials stated that "the intibak issue of artists and technical staff has been approved by the Presidency's Strategy and Budget Directorate" and that its resolution is a short time away.

Our union will continue to follow the process.