site.btaHuseyin Mevsim Is Intellectual of Two Nations, Says Stefan Tsanev at Exhibition Opening in Ankara

Bulgarian playwright and writer Stefan Tsanev described Prof. Huseyin Mevsim as an intellectual belonging to two countries, Bulgaria and Turkiye, in a video message marking the opening of an exhibition featuring posters of Bulgarian plays translated by Mevsim, held on Monday evening at the BTA National Press Club in Ankara.

“Professor Huseyin Mevsim’s life story reads like a fairy tale. Born in 1964 in the remote Rhodope village of Kozlevo, Bulgaria, he rose from being the child of illiterate parents to becoming a distinguished intellectual in both Turkiye and Bulgaria,” Tsanev said. He added that no one has contributed more than Mevsim, not only to researching Bulgarian-Turkish cultural ties of the past but also to forging ongoing literary and cultural connections between the two countries.

Tsanev highlighted several of Mevsim’s notable works, including Chudomir's Journey to Turkey, Nikola Furnadzhiev and Istanbul, Peter Dachev and Istanbul, Between Two Shores, which earned the annual award from the Bulgarian Translators’ Union for original works, and Zemya Predelna, awarded the prestigious Hristo G. Danov National Literary Award.

“Another remarkable achievement of Professor Mevsim is the ‘conquest’ of Turkish theatre stages by Bulgarian dramaturgy,” Tsanev emphasized.

Mevsim has translated dozens of Bulgarian plays by authors such as Stefan Tsanev himself, Stanislav Stratiev, and Hristo Boychev, actively promoting them in Turkish theatres. Notably, he directed Tsanev’s The Other Death of Joan of Arc in Istanbul in the autumn of 2005, where it became a theatrical hit and was acclaimed as a classic. The production also toured in Izmir and Mersin.

Tsanev’s The Last Night of Socrates, translated by Mevsim, was staged in 2008 at Istanbul State Theater and a private theatre in Ankara. The tragicomedy Everyone Loves Me When I’m Crazy premiered in 2012 in Izmir, opening the Moda Sahnesi private theatre in 2013 and continuing to run there; it has also been performed in the Teatro Duo private theatre in Antalya. The Conspiracy of Caligula, another Tsanev play not yet staged in Bulgaria, was performed in Istanbul in 2017.

In 2021, the world premiere of Tsanev’s Alexander the Great’s Horse was held in Istanbul, later performed in the metropolitan theatre of Izmir. The repertoire of various theatres also includes the monodrama The Violinist of God, Tsanev added.

“The tally is extraordinary, five of my plays are currently performed on Turkish stages, not counting dozens of amateur and student productions, some even unauthorized by author or translator,” Tsanev emphasized. “I can confidently say that I am staged more often in Turkiye than in Bulgaria. The credit for this paradox belongs entirely to Professor Huseyin Mevsim. Respect, Professor. Thank you, my friend Huseyin,” he concluded in his video message.

The event at the BTA Press Club in Ankara also marked the introduction of the new BTA correspondent in Ankara, Ayse Sali.

The dual occasion gathered a large audience including the renowned promoter of Bulgarian culture in Turkiye Prof. Huseyin Mevsim, Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Turkiye Angel Cholakov, Anadolu Agency’s Deputy Director General and Editor-in-Chief Yusuf Ozhan, Dilek Kutuk from the Turkish Presidency’s Communications Directorate, actress Hulya Yildiz, representatives of the Bulgarian expatriate community, students, and journalists.