TEHRAN -- Rahim Shahriari, the Iranian singer who performs in Azerbaijani, has said that all the Persian music concerts annually organized in Antalya, a tourist resort in southwest Turkey, are being supported by Israel companies.

Speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Thursday, he said that major concerts in Turkey are organized by GEM TV, a Persian-language entertainment satellite channel with headquarters located in Dubai.

Israeli companies sponsor the concerts to draw Iranian concertgoers to Antalya, a favorite destination of Iranian tourists over the past decade, Shahriari said during the press conference that he organized to brief the media about his tour of Iran set to open next week.

He said that he is invited every year to give concerts in the town, but he has declined to accept the invitations due to the Israeli sponsorship of the programs.

“I never want to join such programs,” he noted.
 
The Persian music concerts in Antalya are mostly performed by expatriate Iranian musicians.   

MMS/AFM