Erdogan adviser condemns Kanye West’s record-breaking Istanbul concert, urges ministry to act

CPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top adviser publicly condemned Kanye West’s concert in Istanbul last week, calling on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to exercise closer oversight over events he says conflict with the nation’s religious and civilizational values.

Oktay Saral, chief presidential adviser, published his rebukes about X in the days following the May 30 performance at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium, where the rapper drew a crowd of 118,000.

This was West’s first European concert in over a decade. West told the audience from the stage: “I just want to tell you that we just broke the record of 118,000 people, the largest stadium performance ever.” Forbes noted that this record is difficult to independently verify, pointing out that free solo concerts, including Lady Gaga’s 2025 performance in Rio de Janeiro, have drawn much larger crowds.

Fans gather inside the Ataturk Olympic Stadium ahead of Kanye West’s concert in Istanbul, Türkiye, May 30, 2026. (AA Photo)

Advisor cites religious, cultural concerns

In his message, Saral wrote that the concert “cannot be accepted as an ordinary musical event.” He described the spectacle of tens of thousands of young people chanting West’s lyrics “I am a God” as “a scene that must be approached seriously.”

He also cited the presence of Michèle Lamy, who he described as associated with the occult and dark symbols, as proof that the event was “not just about music and entertainment”.

Lamy, a French-Algerian fashion designer married to Rick Owens, has collaborated with West on several occasions, including during his Yeezy Season 9 show in Paris in 2022. She is known for her distinctive aesthetic incorporating ritual imagery and unconventional materials.

Saral also wrote that it was alarming that “even the conservative segment has become part of this cultural siege” and that “no one objects to this alienation imposed on our youth under the stage lights.”

He called on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to be “much more cautious” about events touching on the spiritual and cultural sensitivities of the nation. “The children of this nation must embrace their own civilizational values, not the directives of the global culture industry,” he wrote.

Concert drew international crowds as European bans mounted

The May 30 show at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium attracted fans from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan and the United States. It transformed into an all-night festival with DJ sets, laser and light shows and opening performances from Turkish artists including Yener Cevik, Mavi and Sena Sener.

Organizers opened the stadium gates at 3 p.m. to handle the influx of spectators, and the M9 metro line serving the stadium experienced severe overcrowding hours before the show began.

The Istanbul date comes after a series of cancellations and bans across Europe. The UK refused entry to the West on grounds of public interest, leading to the cancellation of its main slot at the Wireless Festival. Concerts in France, Poland and Switzerland were also canceled. Italian authorities banned a planned performance in July following objections from Jewish communities and security concerns.

West took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year in which he attributed a period of anti-Semitic statements, Nazi imagery and the release of a song called “Heil Hitler” to what he described as a “four-month manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior.”

The concert was jointly organized by ILS Vision and TemaCC and was streamed live on West’s YouTube channel. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism did not respond publicly to Saral’s statement.

03 June 2026 01:38 GMT+03:00