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Many cultural professionals and politicians in Germany are calling for the release of Bolat Atabayev. The Goethe-Institut is protesting the arrest of the Kazakh theatre director with particular forcefulness.

The general meeting of the Goethe-Institut now followed its president’s example in emphatically calling for the immediate release of Atabayev. The theatre figure was placed under detention on 15 June for “incitement of social enmity.” In late 2011 he publicly took sides with the striking petroleum workers in the town of Zhanaozen.

The director has close ties to the Goethe-Institut. On 28 August he is scheduled to be awarded a Goethe Medal in Weimar for his life’s work in promoting Kazakh-German cultural dialogue. The general meeting of the Goethe-Institut now called upon the Kazakh government to allow the awardee to attend the award ceremony in Weimar as well as his safe return to Kazakhstan.

Previously, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, protested fervidly against the detention. “We are dismayed at this news,” he stated. “The Goethe-Institut knows Bolat Atabayev as a charismatic and educated man. He is an important local partner and a very significant figure in Kazakh-German cultural dialogue. He has made significant contributions to Kazakh-German theatre relations.”

Roberto Ciulli, the artistic director of the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim, also demanded Atabayev’s release in a statement made with the German Press Agency dpa. The two directors have been friends for many years. Ciulli and film director Volker Schlöndorff wrote an open letter to the responsible judges. The Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy, Markus Löning, also expressed his concern. Atabayev “merely used his right to freedom of opinion and held an address.” Kazackstan is an OSCE member and thus obligated to uphold democratic principles such as the freedoms of opinion and assembly. “I now insist that the Kazakh government fulfil its obligations.”

There has also been support from the Bundestag, where the subcommittee for Foreign Cultural and Educational Policy and the committee for Culture and Media protested the arrest, as did members of the Bundestag Jürgen Trittin and Viola von Cramon (BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN).

With Bolat Atabayev and the other two awardees of the Goethe Medal – Irena Veisaitė from Lithuania and Dževad Karahasan from Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Goethe-Institut is honouring public figures who In their cultural work advocate an open coming to terms with national trauma and also broach issues of current social difficulties.

With his unconventional theatrical work and his uninhibited style, Atabayev demonstrates the courage to create something new, according to the statement by the conferment commission. Early in his life, the proximity of the Germany minority gave him access to German-language culture and a number of stays in Germany gave Atabayev stimulus for his work. In his German-language play Lady Milford aus Almaty, the co-founder of the German Theatre in Almaty deals with the fate of a German-Kazakh actress who emigrated to Germany but found no qualified work there. It was performed in both countries and thereby fulfilled an important function as a bridge for German-Kazakh theatre relations.

A few years ago, Atabayev founded his own theatre Aksarai, which enriches the theatrical landscape of central Asia with new artistic means of expression.

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