The two members of the band “Grup Yorum” who were to play on Saturday at the Anti-Racist festival left Chania, as they were not allowed to enter the country. This is the group that was targeted by the Erdogan government for its political activity and whose members died after several days of hunger strike demanding the release of political prisoners.
“Thursday evening, two members of the well-known political group “Grup Yorum” were arriving on a flight from Great Britain, which will play at the 18th Anti-Racist festival. During the passport control, two members of the group, a German citizen and an Austrian citizen , of Turkish origin, themselves before the ban to enter the country because according to the police and the decision to “deny entry” was served on them. , they are registered in the national register of undesirable people” said the lawyer Mr. Dimitris Fourakis.
He noted that “the group and the specific members have no political activity in Greece, they do not live here, they are EU citizens. they just visit different countries promoting their music and political activism. This group was founded in Turkey in 1985 in the context of the great mobilization against the dictatorship, it continued its activity and has a strong activity against the Erdoğan regime. Their political activity is limited to this and they do an artistic act and promote their political views through this. A few years ago members of the band went on a multi-day hunger strike which led to their death claiming that there were political prisoners in Turkey. »
The entry ban surprised the two members because as the lawyer mentioned in the past “they have come to the Greek territory many times without any problems and recently they played in Mytilini two months ago without any problems . »
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