Mersin Music Festival Cancelled Due to Rising Costs

The Mersin Music Festival, which has played a major role in Mersin's cultural and artistic life since 2002, has been cancelled before reaching its 23rd year due to rising costs and a failure to secure sustainable support. Aynur Sakuçoğlu, Vice President of the Art Events Association, stated that no one who criticized from the outside or inside took responsibility.

Hosting numerous national and international names in Mersin for 22 years, the Mersin Music Festival has come to an end due to economic difficulties and exchange rate fluctuations. Making a statement on behalf of the Art Events Association, which organizes the festival, Vice President Aynur Sakuçoğlu stated that processes such as the pandemic, earthquakes, and cost increases made budget creation difficult. Sakuçoğlu noted that sufficient financial support could not be provided as the priorities of local governments and industrialists changed.

Stating that they held four general assemblies to transfer the organization to someone who could continue it, but no one undertook the process, Sakuçoğlu noted that members unanimously decided to dissolve it in the last general assembly. Emphasizing that no one who criticized the process from the outside or inside took responsibility and became a candidate, Sakuçoğlu expressed disappointment that the city's institutions and organizations did not claim ownership of the event.