Aref Ghafouri: An Iranian bewitching Turkey!
Last Sunday night millions in Turkey were glued to their TVs to watch the finals of Turkey's popular Talent show "Yetenek Sizsiniz Turkiye" (equivalent of American Idol). One of the finalists, Aref Ghafouri, an Iranian immigrant from the city of Urumia, who still speaks Turkish in Azeri (Iranian Azerbaijani) accent, is known among Turks as the Illusionist, due to his incredible "mentalist" power (gaining control over the environment through psychological powers).
Despite receiving 52% of online votes, and a superb performance in the Finals (Video shown below), Aref was not selected as the winner. Many comments on the show's official website discussed racism and Aref's Iranian nationality as the cause. Other comments highlighted historic love and camaraderie between Iranians and Turks and dismissed any racism. Aref's page on the website, however, is not showing any information now.
But Aref's own Facebook page (here) has attracted more than 600,000 fans and he seems to be receiving commercial endorsements, and planning events around the world. Now only if Aref could use his mentalism to save some of the problems facing Iran such as the drying up of the ancient Lake Urumia, in his hometown, an imminent ecological disaster ignored by the government.
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