Kars Kent Rehberi

HOMEPAGE

OPINIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONTACT

CULTURE

Music

The 'Âşık' Tradition

Cuisine

Sport

Media

Culture, Art And Sport Centers

Kars City Guide is published by Kars City Council with the support of European Cultural Foundation, the Chrest Foundation and the Christensen Fund within the Local Cultural Policy Program of Anadolu Kultur. The web-site is supported by the Christensen Fund. The content of the book and the web-site do not necessarily reflect the views of the aforementioned institutions.

KARS CITY CINEMA

This is one of the best cinemas in the eastern Anatolian region with 286 seats and a Dolby digital sound system. It was opened in 1996 with a cafe in the foyer where you can read magazines and daily newspapers and watch trailers of current films. Address: Ataturk Caddesi, 100 Yil Ishani, 139
Tel: 0474 212 48 36

KARS CITY THEATER

The theater in Kars was established during the first years of the Republic. Between the years 1958 and 1970 it mostly staged operettas, oratorios and school shows.

In 1986 another theater was established which was later named the Kars Municipality City Theater. Plays, concerts and poetry recitals are held in this theater with performers often coming from outside Kars. Today the theater puts on its shows at the Kars Art Center. This theater also organizes tournaments in other countries. The theatre is now based in Kars Art Center.

GAZI AHMET MUHTAR PASHA GALLERY

This mansion has two parts: one is a museum and the other is a gallery. In the muse um section, information and documents about Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Pasha, wars in Kars, bastions around Kars and Ataturk’s visit to Kars are exhibited. In the gallery section, about 10 temporary exhibitions are held each year. There is a corner in the gallery section where ethnographic items and artifacts are displayed. The mansion is open during office hours.
Address: Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Pasa Konagi (Mansion), Ortakapi Mahallesi, Gazi Ahmet Muhtar Pasa Caddesi

Ghazi Ahmet Muhtar Pasha Mansion. Photograph: Yildirim Ozturkkan

KARS MUNICIPALITY ISMAIL AYTEMIZ SPORT AND EXHIBITION CENTER

This facility which was only completed in 2007, and has two conference halls with a capacity of 77 people, a gallery, fitness center, press center and cafe. Its sports center has a capacity of 2500 people.
Address: Gaffar Okan Bulvari (Boulevard), on the way to the airport.

KARS FESTIVALS

Kars is rapidly becoming a regional center for international festivals and city councils.Kars Municipality organized the first city council in 2000 and the second came in 2004 along with the First International Caucasian Cultures Festival. Many scientists, artists, politicians and local administrators came together primarily from the Caucasus region. Regional problems and cooperation beyond boundaries were discussed. The international festival which takes place every year in September contributes to regional peace. The festival includes dance and music shows, plays, painting and photography exhibitions, street performances and seminars attended by artists and groups from Azeribaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia and other countries outside the region. The Kars Municipality has also started to host film festivals, beginning with a short films festival in 2003 which was later converted into the International Golden Goose Film Festival. The first edition of this festival was held in November 2006. Besides these, there are the Sarikamis Kars Festival, held every February; the Turkey Murat Cobanoglu Ashik Festival, held in the first weekend of May; the Mourning of the Sarikamis Martyrs and Yayla (high plateau) Festival held every July; the Akyaka Agriculture and Stockbreeding Festival; and the Cildir Lake Festival.

WOMEN’S INSTITUTIONS IN KARS

Women’s organizations in Kars are a recent development. The representation of women in the local administration is no different from Turkey in general, which means pretty low. There are no women at the moment in the Municipal Assembly in Kars and in the Provincial Assembly there is only one. It should be noted that the level of women’s representation in such assemblies throughout Turkey is only about two percent. There are also no representatives of disadvantaged groups like the poor, young or disabled in the local administration, which results in a hegemony of healthy, middle-aged men in all aspects of public life. This hegemony makes it more difficult to tackle the problems faced by other groups, and work against gender discrimination through municipal policies.
Women working in civil society organizations in Kars try to pass on this message: ‘Gender and social roles is a matter of the culture and every culture sets different roles for men and women. These roles are adopted in time so deeply that they become natural. In order to become aware of the discrimination experienced in all aspects of life and in order to express them, we have to start from our own lives and make our voices heard in everyday life to make our environment more livable, equal and women- friendly’.

There are six women’s organizations active today in Kars:
Kars Kent Konseyi Kadın Komisyonu (Kars City Council Woman Commission): 0474 212 45 34
Kars KA-MER: 0474 212 80 59
Türk Anneler Dernegi Kars Subesi (Turkish Mothers Foundation, Kars Branch): 0505 857 16 06
Karslı Kadın Girisimciler Dernegi (Kars Women Entrepreneurs Foundation): 0506 221 95 66
Kars Kültürünü Tanıtma ve Kadın Girisimciler Dernegi (Foundation for Promoting Kars Culture and Women Entrepreneurs): 0544 220 91 94
Türk Kadınlar Birligi Kars Subesi (Turkish Women’s Union, Kars Branch): 0536 563 13 19, 0505 707 30 52