When Michael Jackson visited Turkey in September 1993 for his Dangerous World Tour, he was invited to visit the Topkapi Museum. However, Michael was worried about the crowd so Ahmet San, a Turkish organiser and talent manager, agreed with the director of the museum to open a private viewing after opening hours.
The Minister of Culture, at the time, Fikri Korur, needed to give permission for this to happen says San in his new book “Nothing is impossible”.
However, when he called the director of the museum the next morning to see what was the Ministry’s answer. In his book, San said the Ministry refused.
However, since the book came out last June, the full story came to light as the Museum Director recalled that he was told by the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture that Pepsi, the sponsor of the Tour, also contacted the Ministry to shoot a video and photoshoot at the Museum. “They wanted to dress Michael Jackson in a caftan and make him sit on the Throne of Shah Ismail of Persia”, which was a no go for the Ministry and the Director of the Museum.
But nothing was lost for Michael as the next day of the concert, on September 24, Michael went to visit the Dolmabahce Palace instead.
The visit was private and Michael left his autograph in the guest book.
Michael left Istanbul on September 25, 1993 for Tenerife, the last European Concert date.
And despite Michael was refused to sit on the Throne in question, it was 1993 in a very conservative country.
Today, it might have been a different story just like Beyonce and Jay-Z at Le Louvre Museum which broke all ticket office records in 2018 with more than 10 million people viewing its Paris collection of fine arts and antiquities, boosted by foreign tourists and the interest in Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s music video filmed there.
