Biletix company denies dropping left-wing band GrupYorum’s tickets

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Grup Yorum is known for its leftist political tendencies. The band’s concert tickets have been sold through Turkey’s biggest online ticket company Biletix since 2001.

Turkey’s biggest online ticket company Biletix, has said it will continue to offer tickets for musicians Grup Yorum, denying recent reports that it was dropping the legendary left-wing band after students were detained for selling the group’s tickets.

According to media reports, the band’s concert promoter, Ali Şenol, said Biletix’s customer care representative had told them the company would not sell the group’s tickets because they provided funds for terrorism.

Grup Yorum is known for its leftist political tendencies. Six people in the eastern province of Malatya were recently sentenced for making propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organization after being detained while selling tickets for a local Grup Yorum concert.

The band’s concert tickets have been sold through the Biletix network since 2001. The band applied to the company Feb. 9 to sell tickets for an upcoming concert in the northwestern province of Bursa.

Biletix released a press statement denying the band’s claims that it was discontinuing offering the tickets.
But the press statement also said that due to a legal verdict against the sales of the band’s concert tickets, the company wanted to determine if there was any legal impediment before offering the tickets for the band’s upcoming show. “We will decide whether or not to sell the tickets after we thoroughly learn about the legal obligations,” the press statement read. Media reports also quoted Şenol as saying the representative had told him the company was sent a police order to not sell the band’s concert tickets. Biletix representatives denied the claims.