A concert by famous Greek pop singer Despina Vandi in İzmir on Wednesday evening has been cancelled over a dispute that erupted when organizers insisted on hanging a Turkish flag and posters featuring Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, on the stage, according to Turkish media reports.
When Vandi, 55, refused to perform on the stage at the open-air amphitheater in Çeşme with a Turkish flag and pictures of Atatürk in the background, Çeşme Mayor Lal Denizli from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) got on the stage and told her to leave town immediately.
Denizli, who was elected in the March 31 local elections, said as long as she is mayor of the town, nobody can dare demand removal of the Turkish flag or Atatürk’s portrait.
She said she hopes Vandi will never request the removal of the flag of any country she performs in from now on and that what she experienced in İzmir will be a “historic lesson” to her.
Ne BAYRAĞIMIZI, ne de ATATÜRK’ümüzün bayrağını indirmeye hiç kimse cesaret edemez! Herkes haddini bilecek! pic.twitter.com/3p5ugHkUXd
— Lâl Denizli (@laldenizlicesme) July 17, 2024
The audience and choir of the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), which invited the singer to İzmir for a charity concert, protested the singer by chanting the words to the March of İzmir, a patriotic Turkish song often associated with the country’s War of Independence.
In an Instagram post Vandi expressed her respect for the audience who “honored me with their presence at my concert.” But she criticized TEV for changing the event from a concert into “a prohibited and non-agreed political connotation.”
“My participation in the said event is not possible,” she wrote.
There were claims that the Greek singer requested the hanging of a Greek flag next to the Turkish one to end the crisis but that her request was rejected.
Veteran Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar accused the organizers of attempting a fait accompli by putting Turkish national symbols on the stage and criticized Mayor Denizli and her team for failing to understand the sensitivity of the issue between Turkey and Greece.
“If the Greek side did the same fait accompli [which they are much more careful about, they would ask in advance], would a Turkish singer there accept it? You either put both flags side by side there, or [more accurately] you don’t put any symbols there at all. It’s about education, not a formal meeting. It’s complete nonsense,” he tweeted on X.
Vandi has been targeted by some pro-government media outlets and nationalist circles in Turkey that called her request “shameless.”
The concert’s cancellation also found extensive coverage in the Greek media, with some outlets accusing Turks of staging a provocation and giving hateful reactions to Vandi.
Neighbors and NATO allies Turkey and Greece have been at odds for decades over a series of issues, including territorial claims, and have come to the brink of war three times in the last half-century.
There have recently been efforts from both countries aimed at reducing tensions and putting their relations back on track.
After years of tension over migration, energy rights and maritime borders in the Aegean Sea, Greece and Turkey restarted high-level talks in December when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid his first to Athens since 2017 and signed a declaration of friendship between the two historic rivals.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reciprocated Erdoğan’s visit on May 13.