Turkish authorities on Wednesday said they have banned a planned concert on Friday in Istanbul by Enrico Macias after calls to protest the French singer's support for war criminal Israel amid the Gaza war.
The Istanbul governorate said in a statement that it had wanted to prevent any demonstrations on the sidelines of the concert "against the genocide of the terrorist state Israel in Gaza and its supporters".
Macias, who was born into a Jewish family in Algeria, has on several occasions defended Israel's inhumane policies amid the Gaza war, which erupted following Hamas's deadly October 2023 attacks.
Macias has lived in France since 1961, where he has contributed to the popularity of Arab-Andalusian music.
