Several prominent musicians and bands have been urged to cancel upcoming tour dates in Turkey following online posts made by Abdülkadir Özkan, owner of DBL Entertainment.
In several posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, Özkan criticized the ongoing boycott being implemented by Turkey’s opposition following the March 19th arrest of Istanbul Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.
In one post, Özkan characterized those boycotting the EspressoLab coffee chain as “traitors of our homeland” and “enemies of commerce”. EspressoLab has been at the top of the opposition’s boycott list due to the company’s close connections to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In a second social media post, Özkan took aim at Ekrem İmamoğlu’s father. Özkan shut his account shortly thereafter before reopening it to share an announcement saying:
“The well-intentioned posts I shared have been manipulated to appear as if I was somehow criticizing the ongoing protests. I am deeply disappointed due to this misunderstanding.”
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Muse, Robbie Williams urged to cancel upcoming Istanbul concerts
Following Özkan’s posts, social media accounts from British band Muse and singer Robbie Williams were flooded with requests from Turkish fans to cancel their upcoming concerts, both hosted by DBL Entertainment. Muse and Williams are scheduled to perform in Istanbul on June 11th and October 7th, respectively.
Comments from fans read “The company who is organizing your Istanbul concert serves Erdoğan. You would not want to be on the wrong side of history,” and “[we are] unfortunately never going to attend your concert in Istanbul because the organizer is on the boykott list of the pro-democracy movement. Please check out the news and make a move in the direction of support and solidarity.”
Performances by Norwegian musician Ane Brun and South African comedian Trevor Noah were recently cancelled following the announcement of the boycott.
İmamoğlu expresses support for boycott
In a recent statement, the imprisoned Istanbul mayor announced his support for the boycott and urged that it be expanded to include media and business:
“The time has come for us to hold an election for the media and business world.”
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Following his imprisonment at Istanbul’s Silivri Prison, İmamoğlu was reportedly shown news coverage from pro-government television channels which had avoided covering the protests following his detention and removal. Numerous networks that did cover the protests faced fines and blackouts from Turkey’s TV watchdog, RTÜK.
Some 90% of Turkish TV networks are owned by companies linked to Erdoğan’s AKP, which have been criticized for failing to provide adequate coverage to opposition politicians and protests. During the Gezi Park Protests of 2013, some channels were famously criticized for showing a documentary about penguins as protests raged across the country.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
