Turkish authorities have banned a concert of Enrico Macias, a French singer of Algerian-Jewish origin, after calls for protest over his pro-Israeli stance.
The 86-year-old is one of French Jewry’s best-known personalities. The crooner has performed in Israel numerous times, including arriving during the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War; in the latter, he joined the forces that crossed the Suez Canal.
The Istanbul governor’s office late on Wednesday said that Macias’s performance scheduled for Friday evening in the city has been banned “after intense calls for protests against the concert.”
Such protests would place protesters “in an unjust position legally and cause grievances,” the office said in a statement. Any protests around the concert venue in Istanbul’s Sisli district on Friday were also banned by the governor.
Macias's achievements
Over the past 60 years, Macias has sold millions of records and performed all over the world, including a historic concert in Moscow’s Red Square attended by an audience of 120,000 people.
His music incorporates all the cultural influences in his life, from French chanson-style ballads to works seasoned with Arabic and Jewish flavors.
“These are the kinds of music I live with, and they represent my roots,” Macias told The Jerusalem Post in 2006. “I am very connected to my Jewish roots.”