ATHENS/ISTANBUL, July 18 Popular Greek singer Despina Vandi refused to perform at a concert in the Turkish city of Cesme because a poster of the founder of modern Turkish state of Kemal Ataturk and the Turkish flag, Turkish and Greek media report.
According to Turkish television channel NTV, Despina Vandi was supposed to sing at a charity concert organized by the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV). 
The president of the fund's branch in the Izmir region, Gulnur Sonbayraktar, came on stage and announced that the Greek singer would not perform and that the cost of the ticket would be refunded to those interested.
Çeşme Mayor Lal Denizli then spoke, saying that Despina Vandi did not take the stage “because she wants the Turkish flag and the Atatürk poster to be lowered.” The mayor asked viewers not to “boo” the singer because “she’s the kind of person you shouldn’t waste your breath on.”
«We have sacrificed many martyrs to conquer these lands, and we are people who believe that brotherhood and eternal friendship will always win. No power can dare to remove our flag and Ataturk's portrait. This lady must immediately leave the boundaries of this city. Calm and peaceful,” the mayor said, adding that it would never occur to anyone in a foreign country to demand that the flag of that country be removed. 
The Greek news site newsbomb.gr reported a «provocation of the Turks» who tried to «give a political coloring to the musical event, decorate the stage on which the singer was supposed to perform with Turkish flags and posters of Kemal Ataturk, without any prior information or consultation.»
The Greek singer, in her post on social networks, accuses the Turkish organizers of distorting the nature of the event, turning it into a political one, and for this reason her participation is impossible, the site writes.
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