ISTANBUL: World-renowned Turkish composer and pianist Fazil Say has stated his concert events deliberate subsequent week in Switzerland had been cancelled by organisers over his social media posts criticising Israeli insurance policies in Gaza.
Say was as a result of carry out with the Metropolis of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Zurich, Bern, Geneva and Lucerne from Monday to Thursday.
However he says he was faraway from the lineup of the deliberate concert events organised by the occasion unit of the retail firm Migros.
“Officers from MIGROS cited the concepts I expressed on the Israel-Palestine rigidity on my social media as the rationale,” Say posted on his official social media account on X, previously Twitter, on Friday.
“All the things I’ve written stays on my social media with none modifications,” he stated.
A Migros spokesperson confirmed to AFP on Saturday that Say had been faraway from the live performance programme and changed by Swiss pianist Louis Schwizgebel.
“The rationale for this modification is that Fazil Say’s public statements after the terrorist assault in opposition to Israel will not be defendable for Migros,” the corporate stated in an announcement despatched to AFP.
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at the least 1,400 individuals, principally civilians who had been shot, mutilated or burnt to loss of life on the primary day of the raid, in line with Israeli officers.
Israel says round 1,500 Hamas fighters had been killed in clashes earlier than its military regained management of the world underneath assault.
Greater than 4,300 Palestinians, primarily civilians, have been killed throughout the Gaza Strip in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the assaults by the Palestinian Islamist militant group, in line with the newest toll from the Hamas well being ministry in Gaza.
– ‘I’m for peace’ –
In one in all his feedback, Say responded to a message posted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X the place he accused Israel of a rocket strike on a hospital in Gaza this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu ought to stand trial for conflict crimes, genocide and massacres,” Say commented.
The pianist has additionally criticised Hamas, saying in an October 13 video on Instagram that “no one on this planet would approve harmless individuals being attacked with weapons, hundreds of individuals dying”.
Say, an atheist, has beforehand run into bother for his social media posts.
He was prosecuted in 2012 for Twitter posts that allegedly attacked Muslims, however acquitted of blasphemy costs by a Turkish courtroom 4 years later.
“I’m for peace, and all my statements had been within the spirit of peace,” the pianist stated on Friday.
Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling AKP celebration, condemned the cancellation of Say’s concert events in Europe “due to his concepts opposing Israel’s inhumane assaults” on Palestinians, in a message on X on Saturday.
Say was as a result of carry out with the Metropolis of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Zurich, Bern, Geneva and Lucerne from Monday to Thursday.
However he says he was faraway from the lineup of the deliberate concert events organised by the occasion unit of the retail firm Migros.
“Officers from MIGROS cited the concepts I expressed on the Israel-Palestine rigidity on my social media as the rationale,” Say posted on his official social media account on X, previously Twitter, on Friday.
“All the things I’ve written stays on my social media with none modifications,” he stated.
A Migros spokesperson confirmed to AFP on Saturday that Say had been faraway from the live performance programme and changed by Swiss pianist Louis Schwizgebel.
“The rationale for this modification is that Fazil Say’s public statements after the terrorist assault in opposition to Israel will not be defendable for Migros,” the corporate stated in an announcement despatched to AFP.
Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and killed at the least 1,400 individuals, principally civilians who had been shot, mutilated or burnt to loss of life on the primary day of the raid, in line with Israeli officers.
Israel says round 1,500 Hamas fighters had been killed in clashes earlier than its military regained management of the world underneath assault.
Greater than 4,300 Palestinians, primarily civilians, have been killed throughout the Gaza Strip in relentless Israeli bombardments in retaliation for the assaults by the Palestinian Islamist militant group, in line with the newest toll from the Hamas well being ministry in Gaza.
– ‘I’m for peace’ –
In one in all his feedback, Say responded to a message posted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X the place he accused Israel of a rocket strike on a hospital in Gaza this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu ought to stand trial for conflict crimes, genocide and massacres,” Say commented.
The pianist has additionally criticised Hamas, saying in an October 13 video on Instagram that “no one on this planet would approve harmless individuals being attacked with weapons, hundreds of individuals dying”.
Say, an atheist, has beforehand run into bother for his social media posts.
He was prosecuted in 2012 for Twitter posts that allegedly attacked Muslims, however acquitted of blasphemy costs by a Turkish courtroom 4 years later.
“I’m for peace, and all my statements had been within the spirit of peace,” the pianist stated on Friday.
Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling AKP celebration, condemned the cancellation of Say’s concert events in Europe “due to his concepts opposing Israel’s inhumane assaults” on Palestinians, in a message on X on Saturday.
