Germany cancels Genocide commemoration concert in Istanbul after invitation is sent out to Erdogan (video)
The Dresden Sinfoniker orchestra will perform “Aghet,” a concert dedicated to the 1915 Armenian Genocide, in Yerevan on November 10. The concert premiered in Berlin in November, 2015 and has been performed in Dresden, Berlin and Brandenburg since then. The German Foreign Ministry has cancelled a long-planned concert by the Dresden Sinfoniker orchestra in Istanbul on November 13. Talking to reporters in Yerevan, orchestra director Markus Rindt, conductor Andrea Molino and composer Vache Sharafyan presented the program and their indifference to Turkish hysteria around the concert. Vache Sharafyan says it was a bold initiative. “[Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly asked the German authorities to ban it and the concert was eventually canceled in Istanbul. Erdogan's protest caused a great resonance in Germany and a month later he Bundestag passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide,” he said adding that the German Foreign Ministry canceled the concert in Istanbul after Markus Rindt invited Erdogan to the concert. In his turn, Rindt said that the German Ministry made such a decision to avoid new problems with Turkey. “We believe that the German authorities made the same mistake which was made 101 years ago when the country did not take any steps to prevent or stop the Armenian Genocide,” he said. The concert will be held at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall at 7p.m., on November 10. The Dresden Symphony performance includes musicians from Turkey, Armenia and Germany.
