Country Profile: Türkiye
Grim times in Türkiye, sadly, where an already tough and challenging market for touring and promoting is getting steadily worse.
2025 has already seen Muse – alongside Ane Brun and Trevor Noah – postpone and then cancel shows due to outspoken comments about government protests from promoter DBL Entertainment’s founder, Abdülkadir Özkan.
That was followed by crowd chaos and poor logistics at Justin Timberlake’s recent show at Istanbul’s ITÜ stadium, and Halsey cancelling her Festival Park Yenikapı show with just two weeks’ notice, citing “logistical reasons” (many say poor ticket sales was the real reason).
“We are not optimistic,” is how Nick Hobbs, owner of Charmenko, wryly sums up this sorry state of affairs.
There are numerous reasons for all this. “Promoters face major challenges due to high inflation (currently around 40%), elevated exchange rates, heavy taxation, and the public’s limited purchasing power,” says…
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