Rihanna Schedules Performance in Northern Occupied Cyprus
Superstar Rihanna is set to take the stage at the inauguration of a 7 star luxury hotel in the occupied northern part of Cyprus next month, reported several Turkish daily newspapers on Thursday.
Owner of The Fashion Castle Hotel Yılmaz Bektaş which will open on Sept. 7th, will pay Rihanna $1 million for her scheduled concerted, stated The Vatan. The paper also noted that Rihanna is a friend of Bektaş.
Silvano Bvlgari and Michel Adam-founder of Fashion TV, are also partners of the luxurious hotel. The Vatan went on to add that the hotel would rival the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai.
Last month Jennifer Lopez canceled her performance at the opening of Cratos. Cratos is a hotel & casino in the occupied part of Cyprus. Her scheduled concert had created political turmoil and caused a lot of anger on the free side of the island. After her decision to accept three million dollars in order to participate in the opening of the newly built Cratos hotel political action teams, organizations and other individuals had expressed their dismay with her choice.
A page on facebook was created by Greek-Cypriots which gathered 14,000 fans in just a few days who opposed the singer’s appearance on the occupied area of the island.
Jennifer Lopez’s publicist stated on TMZ.com: “Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse”.
“After a full review of the relevant circumstances in Cyprus, it was the decision of management to withdraw from the appearance. This was a team decision that reflects our sensitivity to the political realities of the region.”
Lopez was to perform July 24th which is 4 days after the anniversary of the Turkish invasion to Cyprus.
Cyprus has been divided since Turkey occupied the north part of the island in 1974. The self-called TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) is only recognized by Turkey. TRNC still maintains troops on the Northern Turkish Cypriot territory.