Turkey bans veteran Jewish-French singer’s concert in anticipation of protests

Istanbul governor cites ‘intense calls’ to cancel performance by Enrico Macias, who has given shows in country for 60 years, over his pro-Israel stance

By Agencies and ToI Staff 4 September 2025, 11:17 am

Edit

French singer and songwriter Enrico Macias addresses the audience during a gathering organized by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) calling for the release of the hostages held in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel, at the Trocadeo esplanade in Paris, on April 7, 2024 (Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

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 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.

The 86-year-old singer told AFP that he has performed in Turkey for 60 years and is “deeply surprised and saddened not to be able to see my audience, with whom I have always shared values of peace and fraternity.”

Macias, who was born into a Jewish family in Algeria, has on several occasions defended Israel’s lethal response to Hamas’s deadly October 2023 attack.

“My problem is that I can’t stand the violence of the terrorists,” he said in an interview on YouTube in August. “And if there was violence on the Israeli side, it was because of Hamas,” he said, while saying he had “nothing against the Palestinians.”

Screen capture from video of Jewish French-Algerian singer and songwriter Enrico Macias during a performance in Istanbul, Turkey, 2024. (YouTube)

Macias has lived in France since 1961, where he has contributed to the popularity of Arab-Andalusian music.

Israeli and pro-Israel cultural figures have also faced hostility elsewhere in Europe as criticism of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and the humanitarian crisis there, has mounted.

NATO member Turkey has fiercely criticized Israel over its actions in Gaza and says it is committing genocide there.

It has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against it, and has repeatedly urged world powers to stop supporting Israel.

Israel vociferously denies accusations of genocide in Gaza and says it takes care to avoid civilian casualties while targeting the Hamas terror group, which is deeply embedded in hospitals, schools, homes, and in fortified tunnels under residential areas.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 62,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.