Sakis and Sertab team up for peace concert

Page history last edited by Della 2 yrs ago

Sakis and Sertab team up for peace concert

 

Greek pop star Sakis Rouvas and Sertab Erener, who won the Eurovision song contest in 2003 for Turkey, teamed up on July 7, 2004 for a concert in Istanbul aimed at promoting peace between the two nations.

 

Fans at the concert waved Greek and Turkish flags at the concert in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district - home to Hagia Sophia, an ancient Greek Orthodox church converted into a mosque by Ottoman Turks when they conquered the Byzantine capital Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453.

 

Rouvas, whose song "Shake It" came in third at this year's Eurovision contest in Istanbul, said the concert was supported by Greece's Premier Costas Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently visited Greece.

 

"Our goal is to bring a solution to conflicts through music" Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted Rouvas as saying before the concert.

 

Although Nato allies, Greece and Turkey have come close to war three times since 1974. Ties have been improving in recent years, and Greece supports this principally Muslim nation's bid to join the European Union.

 

This concert took place a day after the Olympic flame travelled through Istanbul ahead of the Summer Games in Athens next month.

 

 

Associated Press

 

Discuss this article

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.