Guess who’s not coming to Turkey?

American novelist Paul Auster, who refused to visit Turkey because of imprisoned journalists and writers, and Madonna, who will give a concert in Istanbul in June, may not be welcome in Turkey. Sometimes this is a result of people trying to make sure their name stays in the public eye. But a lack of Turkish hospitality is not something new when it comes to celebrities 

 Turkish people like to boast about their hospitality. They enjoy being thought of abroad as having a culture that takes pride in opening its doors to everyone. However, there are times when hospitality turns into hostility. Sometimes things break out into public feuds when the guest in question is someone of international fame who has somehow offended the very delicate Turkish pride.

Earlier in February, the unwelcome guest was the American novelist Paul Auster, and the person who made it public that Auster was not welcome in Turkey was none other than Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. After his latest book, Winter Journal, was published in Turkey months before its publication in the USA, Auster gave an interview to daily Hürriyet, in which he said that he refused to visit Turkey “because of imprisoned journalists and writers.”

Erdoğan shot back the next day, “As if we need you? Who cares if you come or not? Would Turkey lose prestige?” Calling him “ignorant,” Erdoğan accused Auster of hypocrisy for having visited Israel. “Aren’t these the ones that rained bombs on Gaza?” he wondered.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)