Mikis Theodorakis & Zülfü Livaneli - Together!

 

Album: Together! Live from Berlin, 1997

The concert in Berlin was not the first I have done with Zülfü Livaneli. Late last summer, however, as we decided on this tour, a climate of extreme war willingness and hysteria dominated in our countries, like never before. The raging preachers of hatred, who have been and will be tirelessly supported by the mass media with the backing of the international arm dealers, played a part on both sides. We had to react to that. I find it absolutely insane that the years go by and our two people waste billions of dollars buying deadly weapons, on the pretext of mutual deterrence, instead of applying the national wealth to economic & social development. Many Turks and Greeks have to leave their beautiful countries and live elsewhere as immigrant workers because our societies are forced into economic bloodletting by this armaments mania. The financially weak countries, Greece and Turkey, help the richer ones to get even richer while reducing themselves to even worse poverty. The rulers in our two countries have learned to be subjects to foreign interests, which systematically stir up conflict between our two peoples in order to get an even better grip on us. It could happen, however, that sometime or another, one of this artificially created crisis will turn into a heated confrontation with unforeseeable consequences for our two peoples. We want to speak out against such a development with our concerts, songs and protest and also to make the matter of peace a matter for both our peoples.

Mikis Theodorakis