The decision to cancel her concert in Izmir, Turkey, organized by the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) because, according to Turkish media, a poster of Kemal Atatürk was displayed at the venue was taken by Despina Vandi on Wednesday night.
In her post on Instagram, she said about the incident that TEV is entirely responsible as it "unilaterally decided to change the character of the event as a concert and gave it a political character while we had not agreed to such a thing".
"Therefore my participation in the concert was not possible" added Despina Vandi who in her post expresses her respect to those who honored her with their presence in Smyrna.
Ne BAYRAĞIMIZI, ne de ATATÜRK'umümünını flagını indirmeye hiç kimse darışem edemez! Herkes haddini bilicek! pic.twitter.com/3p5ugHkUXd
— Lâl Denizli (@laldenizlicesme) July 17, 2024
According to the Turkish channel NTV, after the refusal of the Greek singer, the TEV choir appeared on the stage of the concert, which would appear together with Despina Vandi, and sang the anthem of Smyrna.
Then the mayor of Izmir, Lal Denizli, took the stage and said that "Ms. Vandi will not appear because she asked for the Turkish flag and the poster of Ataturk to be taken down. Don't disapprove of her, I don't think she's worth the trouble and waste of breath. We have given so many martyrs to win these lands and we are people who believe that brotherhood and friendship will win."
After expressing the hope that what happened will be a lesson for the Greek singer, Mrs. Denizli continued by saying that "no one can force us to take down the Ataturk poster. This lady should leave here immediately, calmly and peacefully. But I hope he will never again try to take down Turkey's blood-stained flag."
Source: protothema.gr