Embargo breakers,
Following the cancellation of a live music performance at St Hilarion Castle by Danish DJ Kölsch due to Greek Cyriot threats, ELTAN HALIL looks back at some of the international artists who have defied the embargoes on the TRNC and the ones who caved into
JENNIFER LOPEZ
THE most high profile cancellation of a concert in North Cyprus was by US pop star, actress and businesswoman Jennifer Lopez in July 2010.
The artist, known by fans as J-Lo, who has had massive success over the years with hits such as Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Let’s Get Loud and Waiting for Tonight, had been due to perform at the official opening of the Cratos Premium Hotel in Çatalköy on July 24, her 41st birthday.
She had planned to stay for three days in the TRNC with then husband Marc Anthony, children Emme and Maximilian, and an 80-strong entourage. The owners of the hotel had reportedly agreed to pay her 3 million euros.
However she pulled out of the show after a hate-fuelled campaign by Greek Cypriots under the “Cyprus Action Network of America” accused Ms Lopez of giving credibility to “Turkish rapists, thieves, invaders, [and] occupiers of our stolen properties”.
A statement issued on her website announcing the cancellation said: “Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse.
“After a full review of the relevant circumstances in Cyprus, it was the decision of her advisers to withdraw from the appearance.
“This was a team decision that reflects our sensitivity to the political realities of the region.”
A letter sent from the Turkish Cypriot human rights lobbying group Embargoed! to Ms Lopez said that she had given in to “threats and distortions from Greek Cypriot pressure groups” and that she had been “badly advised” over the decision to cancel.
DEEP PURPLE
PERHAPS the most successful musical performance of an international group in North Cyprus came in May 2014 when legendary British band Deep Purple took to the stage at Near East University (NEU) as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations. An estimated 35,000-strong multinational crowd turned out for the free concert, which was accompanied by a stunning light, sound and vision show including three giant screens.
The band, famous for hits such as Smoke on The Water, had already made waves before the show by landing at Ercan airport in a chartered British Airways-livered jet.
They were greeted by senior Foreign Ministry officials alongside NEU board head İrfan Günsel.
In an online article penned before the concert, lead singer Ian Gillan wrote: “There’s a bit of a hoo-ha going on about our forthcoming show in Cyprus. . . We – DP – have never been on one side or the other when it comes to performing music. . .
“[We] perform anywhere we are invited, regardless of local difficulties/conflict, wars, earthquakes, riots, typhoons, strikes, rebellions, gun-fire and so on. . . And so it should be with Cyprus, across the divide.
“And may I add that our many previous visits to Turkey and Greece have been fabulous; I personally have friends in both countries. That is my position.”
TOM JONES
NEARLY 600 people watched the Welsh crooner perform at an invitation-only event at the Rocks Hotel and Casino in Girne in June 2012.
The singer, famous for songs such as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat, Delilah and Green, Green Grass of Home was reportedly paid $300,000 for the show.
Give A Little Love was his first song at the gig. “It’s great to be here in Cyprus. It’s a lovely place and it has lovely weather,” he said, adding: “Is it just me or am I melting?”
The singer – now known as Sir Tom Jones – was dressed in a shimmering black suit and had arrived at Ercan airport just an hour before taking to the stage.
He had flown in with a 23person entourage from England on an Eastern Airways Embraer 135 jet to Ercan, after a short stop at Antalya.
UB40
NEARLY 10 years ago some 2,000 music-lovers filled Girne Amphitheatre in August 2011 to see a 90-minute show by world famous British reggae band UB40, the highlight of the first Girne Art and Culture Festival.
The group played timeless hits such as Red Red Wine, Kingston Town, Higher Ground and Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.
The group was without one of its founders, Ali Campbell, who quit in 2008, with brother Duncan replacing him as lead singer.
Ali Campbell did, however, delight North Cyprus crowds a month earlier with a solo performance at Escape beach.
The concerts were hailed at the time for helping to break the embargoes imposed on the TRNC.
BOB GELDOF AND THE BOOMTOWN RATS
IRISH legend Bob Geldof and his Boomtown Rats band ignored Greek Cypriot gripes as they rocked Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in Gazimağusa with a concert in April 2017.
More than 4,000 fans flocked to the free show at EMU Stadium, held as part of the university’s annual “Rock’n EMU” activities.
During the concert Sir Bob addressed the criticism from Greek Cypriots on social media: “We are from Dublin, Ireland. We know what hatred and nationalism is. Nationalism kills. Three thousand people were killed in Ireland, but we made peace. Do it in Cyprus too, to be one people, one country.”
He added that the people of Cyprus had wasted 40 years “just to come from Larnaca to Famagusta”.
JULIO IGLESIAS
WORLD famous Spanish artist Julio Iglesias had been due to sing in North Cyprus at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel in Alsancak in October 2010.
His appearance was cancelled, however, following Greek and Greek Cypriot lobbying efforts. A spokesperson for the hotel said at the time: “We are so sad to announce that the concert is not going to happen. All reservations made by Mr Iglesias and his crew are cancelled. We thought it was going to be a peaceful event but Greek Cypriots tackled it in a political way.”
Mr Iglesias later tried to sue the event organisers in a Washington DC court, claiming they had “duped” him because they had not told him that the event would be held in a part of the island that is “under occupation” and that the concert would be “illegal”.
The lawsuit was reportedly brought in response to a previous legal case brought against the singer’s agency from the hotel management, which claimed that Mr Iglesias had refused to return a $250,000 advance payment.
The case was dropped by the court, however, after it said that no relation existed between North Cyprus and the “hotel contract which Iglesias and his agency had signed”.
SEAN PAUL
THE Jamaican Got 2 Luv U rapper partied “till a early morn” with around 2,000 fans at Çatalköy’s Cornaro Beach Club in July 2015 after arriving at Ercan airport earlier in the day. The award-winning star was making his second visit to the TRNC, despite a concerted online campaign from some Greek Cypriots to get the event stopped. However other Greek Cypriots reportedly travelled from South Cyprus and bought tickets for the show. Sean Paul sang numbers such as Get Busy, Temperature, Come On To
Me and Body.
He travelled to North Cyprus in between shows in İstanbul and Antalya. The singer was slammed by a group calling itself the “European Solidarity Front for Cyprus”. They issued a statement on their Facebook page, alongside an image of Cyprus covered in the Greek flag, which also called on people to boycott coffee chain Gloria Jeans for selling tickets to the event.
In 2010 more than 5,000 fans crowded into the Jasmine Court Hotel garden, Girne, for his debut appearance in North Cyprus, which went ahead despite Greek Cypriot lobbying to stop it.
SAMANTHA FOX
THE British former topless model and 80s pop icon visited the TRNC in August 2013 for a dazzling show in Çatalköy to mark the opening of a new casino.
Hundreds attended the open-air performance, which coincided with a Bayram holiday. A Cyprus Today report on the show said that Ms Fox was “dressed in a black ensemble of zip-up hotpants, leather jacket, vest-top and ankle boots” and played a “mixture of her own music and timeless classics” including her 1986 hit Touch Me.
It was her second time in North Cyprus, having visited the country in the 1980s for a beach photo shoot for The Sun newspaper.
Ms Fox “refused to bow to pressure to pull out of the show after attacks in the Greek Cypriot media and angry emails”.
After the concert the singer spent time in the TRNC and was given a guided tour which took in St Hilarion Castle and Girne.
“I would definitely come back if I got an invitation,” she said in an interview with Cyprus Today.
“I love it. It is the first chance I have had to relax in months. I realised I hadn’t seen a pool in ages. The place is stunning.”
Asked to comment on the abuse she received from Greek Cypriots, she said:
“I am not scared of anything. I will go wherever fans want to see me. They buy my albums. Without my fans I wouldn’t have been able to do the things I’ve done, and politics shouldn’t get in the way of entertainment.”
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE AND RHIANNA
IN AUGUST 2010 Cyprus Today exclusively reported that American pop star Justin Timberlake and Barbadian singer Rhianna were due to give a free concert in North Cyprus on September 15, 2010, to mark the inauguration of two new hotels in North Cyprus.
Timberlake, the singer of hits such as Cry Me a River and Rock your Body, and Rhianna, known for tracks like Shut Up And Drive and Umbrella, were reported to have agreed on fees of $2 million and $1 million respectively.
However the pair pulled out after thousands of Greek Cypriots signed a Facebook campaign calling on them to cancel the show.
PARIS HILTON
THE American celebrity and Hilton Hotel heiress flew into North Cyprus aboard a private jet from Ibiza via Antalya in August 2018 to give a DJ performance at the Limak Cyprus Deluxe Hotel in Bafra.
The visit was part of a European tour to promote her fragrance, Platinum Rush, and went ahead despite a barrage of abuse on social media from some Greek Cypriots.
Ms Hilton was greeted at Ercan airport by Tourism Minister Fikri Ataoğlu, who presented her with a plaque of a traditional silkworm cocoon artwork as a crowd of fans outside the airport waited for a chance to be pictured with her.
He said her presence in the TRNC was “important for promoting the country” and wished her a pleasant stay.
Speaking to reporters at a later press conference she said: “Every time I travel, I research, so I looked up the hotel and it was so beautiful that
I was excited to come.
“I would love to come to Cyprus again as everyone has been so welcoming and sweet.”