Thousands cheered in Istanbul on Saturday as Kurdish singer Aynur Doğan took to the stage after two of her concerts in two other cities had recently been cancelled with no explanation.
The first song Doğan sang was ‘Nûrê’, a Kurdish song, but she also performed a song in Turkish during the concert. She said to the audience, “We can sing in Turkish as well. No problem.”
Thousands of people flooded to the open concert venue in Istanbul as the concert was a rare opportunity to watch and listen to Doğan perform on stage.
In many past incidents, Doğan’s concerts were either met with obstruction by authorities, or were targeted by groups who accused her of supporting terror, essentially because she was sang in Kurdish.
There was an occasion in Istanbul in 2011 when she was forced to leave the stage, when members of the crowd began booing and protesting during her performance.
After her latest concert in Istanbul, the government media daily Takvim reported it as :
“Öcalan supporter on stage backed by mayor of Istanbul”.
Various government supporting Youtube channels such as ‘Ottoman Complex TV’ also targeted her.
“Terror sympathiser brought on stage by Istanbul municipality,” the channel said.
