World-famous Turkish pianist Fazıl Say has hinted that “political pressure” was behind the cancelation by production firm Atlantis Yapım of a concert scheduled for Aug. 18 in İstanbul, the Diken news website reported on Tuesday.
“I am a musician who gives 120 concerts a year, one less doesn’t upset me; to the contrary, I would be happy, but I am upset for my country considering that the reason for canceling my concert was this,” Say wrote in an Instagram post without explicitly stating the reason.
“The producer, Mr. Erdal [Bozkuş of Atlantis Yapım] probably won’t tell this story to his grandchildren with pride in the future,” Say added.
The production company did not respond to questions from Diken.
Say was sentenced to 10 months in 2013 in prison over a series of tweets that included the verses of 11th century Persian poet Omer Khayyam on accusations of “insulting religious values.” However, an appeals court overturned the judgment.
Say briefly left the country after the court proceedings.