As a Turkish Atiny, I feel like I have to say a few things about this because I'm so proud and emotional right now that I might even cry at 5:50 am in the morning 🥺 İstanbul Festivali was the first Kpop festival in Türkiye making Ateez the first boyband to perform at such a festival here (they are also the first A-list level Kpop group who performed in Türkiye). Kpop companies never really saw the demand here, we never got our deserved tour dates or fanmeetings. There were rarely small Kpop events or concerts but it was never the A-list level groups/idols. When İstanbul Festivali has first announced that there would be a Kpop fest in August and dropped some hints for the visiting artists, even though all the hints showed it was Ateez, Turkish Atinys didn't even flinch because we were really REALLY sure it wouldn't be them. Why would such a popular, A-list level successful group come here for a fest when no one on their level that has pretty solid fandoms in Türkiye has ever come anyway? So people tried to make guesses with smaller groups and didn't even expect to find out it was actually Ateez who was coming. We freaked out. We were dumbfounded. We lost our minds and didn't believe it even though we all got our tickets back in March. We ALL thought the organizers were scamming us for MONTHS until the fest dates were added to Toqtok calendar. But even after that, we were still suspicious and always questioning the authenticity of our tickets until Ateez has released that video message for us. Then we freaked out even more cause it WAS real and was really happening! Can you believe it? Ateez saw us. THE ATEEZ saw us! They chose to meet us and gave us a chance to meet them. Ateez showed us that it wasn't actually that impossible for big Kpop groups to visit Türkiye for a concert if you actually wanted it and tried it. It was all Kpop companies' own choice/ignorance in the end. Last Friday night was magical. A dream-like experience for thousands of people who attended a Kpop concert for the first time in their lives. There were Atinys who have been waiting for 8 years to meet Ateez. And it was a legendary opening for the 1st İstanbul Festival. Ateez literally opened the doors to a new path with their stage with 65.000 audience on August 14th and proved once again that it was the heart that made it possible. There are now articles about the fest everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Even Dispatch reporters have travelled to Türkiye for this festival. Ateez's stage was a great success, an amazing start for Türkiye in Kpop terms. And you know what even makes me cry my eyes out? Most of the foreign fans might not know this but Ateez's concert was actually co-arranged by Korean Cultural Center for the commomeration of Türkiye-South Korea's 70th friendship anniversary because Türkiye has aided S.Korea during the Korean War and lost hundreds of soldiers. That's why Ateez did that long ahh ment and talked about the two countries' friendship during the concert. That's why Wooyoung wrote 친구의 나라 on his Insta caption yesterday. He was referring to us as their brother country 🇹🇷🇰🇷 Ateez chose to come here and meet their Turkish Atinys for the first time instead of going to Kcon because they knew it would mean a lot to us. Oh how I love my boys 🥹💜
omg the thing that pisses me off the MOST is seeing people talk about atz's energy at concerts like it wasn't what they expected!!! tf are you guys even watching, atz literally pour their hearts out at EVERY SINGLE CONCERT despite coming in with zero rest, 11+ hr flights, and everything, just to be met with ungrateful shits?? it's enough that they perform while fully exhausted physically and mentally, and still deliver a mind blowing performance :/
ateez has never been lazy performers, so you can stop with the lies. a member dealing with an injury and a group dealing with fatigue does not make them lazy.