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March 29
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Turkey is trying to put pressure on Dresden Symphony Orchestra on European level for the project dedicated to the Armenian Genocide committed 100 years ago.

The Turkish Ambassador to Germany has demanded to stop financing Aghet project, orchestra intendant Markus Rindt said.  In his words, this step is an “infringement on the freedom of expression,” dpa agency reports.

Despite Turkey’s pressure, the European Commission agency for education and culture continues supporting the project, Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten newspaper writes.

However, according to Rindt, the agency still met the Turkish side halfway, removing the information on Aghet project from its website. The orchestra itself doesn’t approve this decision.

The European agency confirmed that they have removed the information on the project from their webpage due to doubts on the right wording in the description. The agency representative told dpa that the project implementation had never been called into question. The agency has allocated 200,000 euro to that project.

In November 2015, Dresden Symphy Orchestra launched Aghet musical project, its premiere taking place in Berlin. It is dedicated to the mass extermination of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which took place 100 years ago during WWI.  Ankara still refuses to recognize these events as genocide, whereas the project website uses that word.

According to the website, the German Empire used to be the key ally of the Ottomans then, and the German officers took part in the massacre. The project which symbolizes reconciliation includes musicians from Turkey, Armenia and Germany, as well as Baltic countries. Following several performances in Germany, the project is planned to be presented in Belgrade, Yerevan and Istanbul in November 2016, Deutsche Welle writes.

 

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