Music was meant to bring people together, not place communities on opposing sides, EXIT said on Thursday as it formally announced its withdrawal from the planned Nexus festival near Kyrenia castle in the north.

The Serbian festival company said it had initially believed music could provide a meeting point for people on a divided island, drawing on its own roots in the Balkans as a movement for freedom and peace.

It apologised for the disruption caused by its participation in the event and said it had come to understand that the historical and political context surrounding Kyrenia was more sensitive than it had initially realised.

“From the beginning, our intention was to bring people closer together,” EXIT said, insisting that it did not want an event bearing its name to become “yet another reason for people to find themselves on opposing sides”.

The Nexus festival was due to take place in September as part of EXIT’s international programme.

Its proposed location near Kyrenia castle prompted political opposition in the Republic, with officials and political figures arguing that an international event at the historic site could contribute to the normalisation of the situation in the occupied north.

EXIT said it had been aware of the Cyprus conflict and the division of the island for more than five decades, but acknowledged that it had not fully understood the depth of its continuing consequences.

“We did not fully understand how deeply its consequences are still felt today,” the company said.

The organisers said they had seen international artists and global brands holding events in the north in recent years and believed that music could serve as a space where people could meet and connect, as it had done in the Balkans.

Following the announcement of the Nexus event, however, EXIT said it listened to concerns from people representing different perspectives and consulted institutional bodies in Cyprus before reconsidering its participation.

It said it had particularly come to understand the “deep historical and emotional significance” of Kyrenia and Kyrenia castle in particular for the Greek Cypriot community.

Although the festival had not been planned inside the castle itself but in its immediate vicinity, EXIT said this did not alter the significance or symbolism of the location.

“For all these reasons, we express our sincere and deep regret that we agreed to participate in this project,” it said, confirming its withdrawal.

The company said the decision carried “serious legal and financial consequences” because the project was already underway but argued that withdrawing was the responsible course after taking the concerns surrounding the event into account.

EXIT also placed the decision in the context of its own recent history. It was founded 26 years ago as a student movement in Serbia focused on freedom and peace following the conflicts in the Balkans during the 1990s.

It later developed into an international music festival and presented itself as a platform for tolerance, reconciliation and coexistence between different nations, cultures and religions.

The company said its position in Serbia had become increasingly difficult after it supported student protests following the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy in November 2024.

EXIT said it subsequently received invitations to stage events elsewhere, including in Montenegro, Croatia, Malta and Egypt, as it expanded its international programme, with the Nexus project in the north was among those invitations.

EXIT said its decision to withdraw was not directed against any community in Cyprus or against the cultural scene in any part of the island.

“We hope that there will be another opportunity to meet under conditions in which the focus can be on the people, the music and the experience we share,” the company said.