Mas-Kom-Yah

Mas-Kom-Yah is a theater play written by the future mayor of Istanbul, Prime Minister of Turkey and President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 1975, based on the book Kızıl Pençe ("Red Claw") written by the Islamist preacher Mustafa Bayburtlu. The name Mas-Kom-Yah is an abbreviation for Mason, Komünist ve Yahudi (Freemason, Communist and Jew).

Mas-Kom-Yah
Written by	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Date of premiere	1975
Original language	Turkish
Subject	Antisemitic conspiracy theory
Genre	Drama

Plot

The non-religious factory owner Ayhan Bey sends his son abroad for education. Years later, the son, having left Islam, returns to Turkey. This leads to a fight between Ayhan Bey and his son. At the same time, the factory owner's workers rebel and take over Ayhan Bey's property. They are incited by a Jewish worker pretending to be a Turkish Muslim. He is shown in the play as extremely evil, and in the end incites his colleagues to murder Ayhan Bey.

Performance

Erdoğan, who wrote the play, also participated in the production as director and actor, playing the role of the factory owner's son. The play was performed throughout Turkey from 1975 until the 1980 Turkish coup d'état.

Criticism

In 2012, the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, described the play as an antisemitic piece and accused Erdoğan of seeing theater only as propaganda, and of hindering theater work by liberal and secular actors, directors and screenwriters as Prime Minister, because theaters and stages in today's Republic of Turkey are partly liberal and secular centers of society.