Democratic initiative costs Costner

The show Kevin Costner and his band Modern West were going to perform in Istanbul on Thursday has been canceled.

Turkey was on Costner’s agenda for weeks, not because of the concert, but after Edibe Sözen, recently demoted Deputy President responsible for promotion and media affairs of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, stated last month that the Oscar winning actor was backing the government’s “Kurdish initiative.” Sözen’s statement was disclaimed by the National Movement Party, or MHP.

This was going to be the second musical performance by Costner in Turkey; the first one took place in Istanbul two years ago in front of an audience of 5,000. The cancelled concert was organized by Ahmet San and Cüneyt Ortan, and scheduled to take place at the Hilton Convention Center. The sponsor for the concert was Turkish Airlines, as Costner starred in their recent commercials. Although, most of the tickets priced at 112, 165 and 265 Turkish liras were sold and it was almost certain that the 1500 capacity hall would be full, the organizers cancelled the show at the last minute. Alleged claims are, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s displeasure with Sözen for pushing the AKP into a needless debate and failing to offer her a position in the new administrative body of the party, affected the organizer’s decision. According to those claims, San and Ortan cancelled the show in order to avoid another debate on the initiative and notified Costner of this. Costner was going to be paid 120,000 Euros for his performance.

What did Sözen say?

This matter, halting the ascending political career of Sözen started last month, when she stated that the famous actor was supporting the initiative of the AKP administration, “We have invited Kevin Costner to the Grand Congress of the AK Party on Oct 3. He said, although he would like to attend, it is impossible because of his European tour. His schedule was already determined, instead, Costner said, he was planning to come to Istanbul on Oct 16 and make clearly state his support for the democratic initiative.”

‘You do your acting’

Sözen’s statement was met with harsh criticism from the opposition from both, MHP and Deniz Baykal, the leader of Republican People’s Party, or CHP. “Why do you intervene with our internal affairs? You do your acting.” Baykal addressed Costner. Sözen’s words were later disclaimed by Oktay Vural, Deputy President for MHP, as they contacted Costner’s manager who refuted Costner’s alleged statement. Following the incident, Sözen announced, the organizers of the show in Istanbul had been her source of information.

Kevin Costner the musician

Costner is the singer of "Kevin Costner and Modern West," a rock/country band, which he founded with the encouragement of his wife Christine. The band began a worldwide tour in October 2007, including shows in Istanbul and Rome. They also performed at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

The band released a country album ‘Untold Truths’ on November 11, 2008 on Universal South Records. The album peaked at #61 in the Billboard Top Country Albums and #35 in the Top Heatseekers chart. Three singles ("Superman 14", "Long Hot Night" and "Backyard") have been released to radio, although, neither has made the charts. The single "Superman 14" is available as a live music video.