As Long as Turkey Does Not Recognize the Genocide, I Will Not Perform There – Yevgeny Kissin

The world-famous pianist Yevgeny Kissin said in an interview to the New York Times that he wouldn’t perform a concert in Turkey until its government acknowledges that the killings of Armenians in 1915 were a genocide.

“I’m convinced that if people in such countries learn that many musicians refuse to perform with them because they don’t like the behavior of their leaders, the awareness among the intelligentsia will increase,” he said.

Yevgeny Kissin said that he doesn’t condemn those of his colleagues who perform concerts in totalitarian countries. “That is their choice,” said the musician who had recently performed in a concert dedicated to Jewish composers at the Carnegie Hall.

In April 2015, Kissin visited Armenia with a concert. During a meeting with the journalists, he stated that he would urge world cultural figures to demand the international community to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

P.S The interview with Evgeny Kissin was published on December 13, 2015. Today, it would be interesting to establish the tendencies in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.