Valery Gergiev: ‘I have no plans to perform in Turkey’

The Mariinksy and Munich music director was asked at a Tokyo press conference whether he had plans to perform in Turkey. The question was tagged to the shooting down of a Russian military plane by Turkish ground forces.

Gergiev, who is often an apologist for President Putin, said (according to the semi-official Tass news agency): ‘I do not have plans to perform in Turkey. This is a very dangerous region. It is not the job of artists to find a solution in this region, it is the task of politicians.’

Gergiev is touring Japan with the Munich Philharmonic.

He has not previously hesitated to perform in danger zones, and no Government presently considers Ankara and Istanbul to be areas of danger.