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A Turkish pop star was reportedly arrested on “hate speech” charges in response to a joke she told about religious schools in the country.
Gulsen, a 46-year-old pop star in Turkey, was taken away from her home in Istanbul to be interrogated and formally arrested on Thursday after joking at an April concert that one of her musicians’ “perversions” stemmed from the frequency of an Islamic school.
“He previously studied in an Imam Hatip (school),” said the singer. “That’s where his perversion comes from.”
A video of the singer’s comment began circulating on social media recently, with a hashtag calling for her arrest.
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Turkish pop star Gulsen performs at a concert in Istanbul on April 10, 2016. Gulsen, whose full name is Gulsen Colakoglu, was arrested on Thursday, August 25, 2022, on charges of “inciting hatred and enmity. “for a joke he made about Turkish religious schools.
(AP Press Room)
Gulsen was reportedly escorted to prison and is awaiting trial.
The arrest sparked indignation on social media. Government critics said the move was an effort by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to solidify the support of his clerics and conservatives ahead of the elections in 10 months.
Gulsen apologized for the offense caused by the joke, but said her comments were caught by those who wanted to deepen the polarization in the country.
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During his interrogation by the court authorities, Gulsen dismissed accusations of incitement to hatred and enmity and claimed to have “infinite respect for the values and sensibilities of my country,” the agency reported. state Anadolu.
Gulsen’s request to be released from prison pending the outcome of a trial was denied.
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Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan holds a press conference during the NATO summit at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on June 14, 2021.
(Reuters / Yves Herman / Pool / File Photo)
The spokesman for Erdogan’s Justice and Development party, known by the Turkish acronym AKP, appeared instead to defend the decision to arrest the singer, saying that “inciting hatred is not an art form”.
“Targeting a segment of society on charges of ‘perversion’ and trying to polarize Turkey is a hate crime and a disgrace to humanity,” AKP spokesman Omer Celik tweeted.
Associated Press contributed to this report
