Erdoğan adviser criticises Kanye West concert in Istanbul

A senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticised a recent concert by American artist Kanye West in Istanbul, saying the event conflicted with the country’s values and calling for closer oversight of similar performances.

Oktay Saral, the president’s chief adviser, made the remarks following West’s May 30 concert at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium, which drew around 118,000 attendees.

“Kanye West’s concert in Istanbul cannot be considered an ordinary musical event. 118,000 young people paid to attend a show demonstrating rhetoric and symbols that contradict our beliefs and civilisational values. The enthusiastic repetition of [West’s] words ‘I am God’ by tens of thousands of people is a situation that deserves serious attention,” Saral wrote on X.

He further warned that the influence of such events extended beyond expected audiences. “An even more alarming fact was that the conservative segment of society also became part of this cultural siege,” he said.

“It is terrible that no one objects to such depersonalisation imposed on our youth under the spotlight. We call on our Ministry of Culture and Tourism to exercise much greater vigilance regarding such events that affect the spiritual and cultural feelings of our nation. The children of our country must uphold their own civilisational values rather than succumb to the dictates of the global cultural industry,” Saral added.

Saral also highlighted the involvement of French cultural and fashion figure Michèle Lamy, a collaborator of West, alleging that she is “associated with occultism and dark symbols” and saying that “her participation in this event shows that it is not only about music and entertainment.”

West’s performance in Istanbul lasted approximately two hours.