First statement following the cancellation of the Çukurova Rock Festival

The Çukurova Rock Festival, where renowned artists and music groups such as Selda Bağcan, Can Gox, Manuş Baba, Umut Kuzey, Ceza, Pentagram, Gazapizm, Uzi, and Dedublüman were set to perform, has been cancelled.

The festival, which was planned to be held for the sixth time this year, was banned by the Adana Governor's Office just hours before the event was set to begin.

REASON FOR THE BAN ANNOUNCED

The Governor's Office expressed the reasons for the ban by stating, "It has been taken into consideration that there are kiosks selling alcohol around the event area, which could lead to crimes such as sexual assault, injury, and theft related to alcohol consumption."

Can Gox, one of the artists announced to perform at the festival, spoke to 12punto following the cancellation.

'THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO EARN A LIVING'

Making a statement through his press consultant, Gox expressed his sadness, saying, "We should not make it difficult for people to access art. To give an example: There are people who want to earn a living, but the bakeries are being closed. It was not just us who would have benefited from this concert, but also the tradespeople of Adana."

'IT HAS BECOME AN INSURMOUNTABLE PROBLEM'

The following statement was made by Milyon Yapım, the organizer of the festival:

"The Adana Governor's Office, which had verbally communicated that there were no issues regarding our application made in July, did not notify us of anything despite our persistent calls and requests for a written permit, and informed us one day before the start date that the festival could not be held. The notification, which arrived after 300 employees, 30 trucks of equipment, a massive stage, mobile toilets, barriers, and security gates had already been set up at the festival site, has become an insurmountable problem both financially and morally.

While the Çukurova Rock Festival was not granted permission for flimsy reasons related to traffic and liquor stores located 500 meters away from the festival area—which have nothing to do with the festival—we still sought a solution. In line with the demands of the Security Branch Manager and other officials, who verbally stated that permission would be granted if the festival were held without alcohol, if participants under 18 were not admitted, and if there were no camping, we applied to the Adana Governor's Office with a new petition committing to accept these conditions.

Despite fulfilling all conditions, the Governor's Office did not provide a positive or negative response. With this decision, everyone will be aggrieved, including the approximately 12 thousand people who bought tickets to attend the Çukurova Rock Festival, hotels with reservations, food and beverage stands, local transporters, artists waiting to perform, and local tradespeople. It is indisputable that this will cause irreversible damage to our company, which is persistently trying to create economic activity even under current economic conditions.

It is impossible to understand why this festival in particular is not being allowed in Adana, a city that hosts many festivals, including the Adana Flavor Festival held a week ago, the Golden Boll Film Festival, concerts at Çukurova University, and the Adana Youth Festival to be held at Aqualand on November 2-5.

We stated that we were acting in good faith to reach a compromise regarding the Adana Governor's Office's cancellation decision until the last minute, which is why we did not initiate legal action. However, at this point, when we were verbally informed that all paths were closed, our lawyers took the necessary steps to apply legally."

News Source: 12punto