Syrian singer Omar Souleyman, arrested Wednesday by police in southeastern Turkey for “terrorist propaganda”, was released Friday, November 19 at 10 a.m. (8 a.m. in Paris), said his lawyer, Resit Tuna, who had said he feared, the day before, a possible expulsion from Turkey.
The Syrian electro-folk star, who took refuge in Turkey shortly after the outbreak of the war in Syria, was accused of links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG), according to the reports. Turkish media. Ankara considers the YPG, the main Kurdish militia in Syria, to be an offshoot of the PKK, classified as “Terrorist” by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Detained for twenty-four hours at the police station in Sanliurfa, a town located about fifty kilometers from the Syrian border, Omar Souleyman was taken Thursday to a shelter serving as a detention center for people to be expelled from the Syrian Arab Republic. Turkish territory, said the lawyer.
International reputation
Joined by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the prefecture of Sianlurfa was not able to confirm the release of the singer, who has acquired international notoriety by combining traditional Syrian music and electronic.
Omar Souleyman, who started his career singing at weddings in Syria, appears in his music videos wearing a red and white keffiyeh and thick black sunglasses. The singer fled Syria after the outbreak of civil war in 2011 to settle in Turkey, where he notably opened a bakery.
His hits, among which Warni warni, which totals nearly 100 million views on YouTube, opened the doors to international festivals, such as Villette Sonique in 2009, the Eurockéennes de Belfort in 2010, Glastonbury in 2011, South by Southwest (SXSW), in Texas, or Pitchfork Festival in Paris, in 2013. He also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in December 2013. He also collaborated with artists, such as the Icelandic singer Björk or the British musician Four Tet.