It was during an organized police raid on his home in the center of Urfa, a large city in south-eastern Turkey, that Syrian singer Omar Souleyman was arrested on Wednesday, November 17. Accused of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) considered by Turkey and its Western allies as a “Terrorist organization”, the world-famous singer faces several years in prison. Widely circulated by Turkish media, the news of his arrest sparked outrage among his many fans on social media.
Appreciated by a large audience, Turkish, Kurdish, Arab, Omar Souleyman, the king of Syrian electro-folk, made his debut as a singer in weddings in northeastern Syria, where he was born , before evolving towards a musical style combining traditional Syrian music and electro. In 2011, when war broke out in his country, he took refuge in Urfa in Turkey not far from the Syrian border where his popularity only grew. His concerts in Europe, his video clips, his cooperation with the Icelandic singer Björk have made him known worldwide.
With the money earned during his tours, in 2019 he opened a bakery in Akçakale, a town on the Syrian border, to help refugees. At the time, he praised the generous welcome granted by Turkey to more than 3 million of his compatriots, who had become refugees like him. “The Syrians are very happy here. All their needs are met, both in terms of health and education. And the state also provides them with assistance for their subsistence ”, he told the press on November 13, 2019, at the opening of the bakery.
Increased repression
The reasons which motivated his arrest remain unclear because Omar Souleyman is not a committed singer. His songs, mostly written in Arabic, often focus on romantic rather than political themes. His song in the Kurdish language Warni warni (“Come to Me, Come to Me”) is one of his biggest hits, with over 94 million views on YouTube.
According to the Turkish agency Ihlas, the Turkish prosecution accuses the singer of having delivered, several years ago in Germany, a laudatory speech to Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader. According to anonymous sources, Omar would have recently visited Syria, in the area controlled by the Syrian Prokurdist PYD party, considered by the Turkish authorities to be the Syrian branch of the PKK, which, in Turkey, is sufficient to justify criminal prosecution. .
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