Rize Municipality canceled the concert of the band Madrigal, which was scheduled to perform as part of the Youth Festival. The reason given was the critical social media posts of the band’s guitarist Ceyhun Kaan Karakaş about President Erdoğan in the past.
As part of the May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day, it was announced that Madrigal would take the stage at 21.30. However, when Karakaş’s previous posts, which included statements such as “Nothing will get better in this country until Erdoğan leaves” and similar expressions, Rize Municipality informed the public via SMS that the concert was canceled.
Fındıklı Mayor Ercüment Şahin Çervatoğlu made an appeal to the group: “Fındıklı is a town of freedom. Come and meet young people here, Fındıklı will host you.”
A similar censorship was experienced in Rize before, and the interview of historian Ahmet Anapalı, who came to the fore with his anti-Atatürk statements, was canceled after public reaction.
19.05.2025
ANKA