AN AMERICAN-based lawyer has written to the agents of celebrity singers Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, warning them that Turkish Cypriots were attempting to stage concerts in the north to conceal their “dark history”.
In a letter to William Morris Agency dated August 26, Athan Tsimpedes, a Washington-based lawyer representing the Cyprus Movement for Refugees and Displaced Mothers, called on the agency to encourage its two clients, Robyn ‘Rihanna’ Fenty and Timberlake, to withdraw alleged plans to play concerts in the north.
Tsampides argued that “Turkish Gaza” was a more appropriate moniker for northern Cyprus “as Turkey’s actions have isolated its residents from the rest of the world”.
The lawyer, who has also filed a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit on behalf of Greek Cypriot refugees in Washington against Turkey, argued that world-famous singers were “sought to promote events in the Turkish Gaza to conceal its dark history”.
Timberlake and Rihanna are expected to perform a music concert in Kyrenia on September 7 for the opening of the Fashion Castle Hotel.
Tsimpedes warned the agency that “potential performances in the Turkish Gaza may give rise to claims for trespass and other legal remedies in the appropriate courts”, noting that the land of Kyrenia “belongs to refugees”.
William Morris also represents Jennifer Lopez, who pulled out of a planned concert in Kyrenia in July, after 23,000 people signed an online petition against the event.
Now a Facebook group called ‘Rihanna will be performing in North Cyprus September 2010’ which has 7,133 members battles the 8,553 member group ‘Against Rihanna Performing in Occupied Cyprus’.
Meanwhile, famous R’n’B singer Sean Paul played twice in Cyprus last month, first in the north and then in a club in Limassol.
Kadir Tuyorksuz, the supervisor in charge of the Jasmine Court Hotel in Kyrenia told the Cyprus Mail that the Sean Paul event went very well with “5,000 people attending”.
“Everyone was so happy. Some people will have bad opinions but generally everyone who was there was very happy,” he said.
The latest battle in the ongoing “concert sagas” raises a number of questions that continue to be debated in online forums. Is it insensitive to refugees and even a violation of human rights to stage a concert celebrating the opening of a hotel built on occupied land? In the reverse, is it an injustice wanting to prohibit a generation separate from the politics involved with the 1974 invasion from engaging in an ‘apolitical’ music event?
