"Turn off that infidel music!"
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 30, 2006 10:37
A rift between the Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) Ankara Radio Chorus and their director, Ergin Erenoglu, has gotten progressively worse since the end of last year, with matters peaking today with a planned protest in front of the Ankara TRT Radio building. The initial tension between the chorus and their director was sparked late last year, on a bus trip returning from a concert the choral group had given in Greece. As the bus approached Ankara, Erenoglu, who was also present on the bus, rose and replaced a Pavarotti CD that had been playing with a CD of Turkish folk music, saying, as he replaced it, "Turn off that infidel music!"
On returning to Ankara, the 18 members of the Ankara Radio Chorus began to pursue legal action against Erenoglu, claiming that the director had insulted and threatened the members of the chorus in a variety of ways. One unnamed member of the chorus claimed that Erenoglu had accused her of being a "traitor to the country" for listening to the Pavarotti CD rather than the folk music CD, and that she had experienced physical and emotional distress as a result of the incident.