AKP municipalities tone down the volume on Kurd-Pop in Turkey
Cultural events, from Kurdish-language concerts to performances of daring female stars in mini dresses, become the targets of a proxy war between the nationalist-conservatives and liberals.
“Please attend the concert of Aynur Dogan on May 28 in Istanbul,” Fazil Say, a prominent Turkish pianist, tweeted to his 650,000 followers. “No artist in Turkey should have to face archaic bans.”
Say was responding to increasing pressures on the Istanbul municipality to cancel the award-winning Kurdish-Turkish singer’s concert this weekend. The calls come from ruling party deputies, pro-government papers and threatening trolls, who accuse Dogan of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“We have five fallen soldiers today,” tweeted Alpay Ozalan, a backbencher of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), in reference to the five Turkish soldiers who died in Operation Claw Lock against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. “And the Istanbul municipality under the direction of [opposition mayor] Ekrem Imamoglu has announced the concert of a singer who opposes Turkey’s operation to the PKK.”
Aynur Dogan, a Kurdish Alevi singer who won the prestigious WOMEX 21 Artist Award last year, has been on Turkey’s agenda ever since the Derince Municipality, which is held by AKP, banned her concert in mid-May. Faced with attempts to portray her as a supporter of the PKK, she merely replied with a tweet: "Poets are those who prove the truth, and we continue on this path.”
