Turkish pop star Gülsen faces up to several years in prison for saying during a concert in April that the “perversion” of one of his musicians was due to his education in an Imam Hatip school.
Turkish pop star Gülsen, accused of“incitement to hatred” for having mocked religious schools on stage, was placed under house arrest on Monday August 29 after four days of detention, announced her lawyer.
The 46-year-old singer, whose real name is Gülsen Bayraktar Colakoglu, has been placed under house arrest by an Istanbul court pending trial. She faces up to several years in prison.
“We welcome his release. Although the comments she made may be disturbing, it is obvious that they do not constitute a crime.his lawyer Emek Emre told the press, judging his house arrest “inconsistent with the law”. His arrest Thursday, August 25 had provoked strong reactions in Turkey.
During a concert in April, Gülsen said that the “perversion” of one of its musicians was due to his education in an Imam Hatip school, causing a burst of laughter in the audience.
These religious secondary schools, of which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was a student, have flourished since the coming to power in 2002 of his Islamo-conservative AKP party.
An excerpt from the scene went viral on social media last week, sparking outrage among ruling party executives, less than a year from the next presidential election. Gülsen issued an apology on Twitter before his arrest. “I am sorry that my words have given rise to malicious people who aim to divide our country”she wrote.
Famous for her outfits considered daring by some of the Turks and for her support for the rights of the LGBTQ community, Gülsen is a known artist in Turkey, an almost exclusively Muslim but constitutionally secular country.
Other Turkish artists have found themselves in the sights of the curators in recent months. Some could not go on stage because of behavior judged “inappropriate” or because they sing in a regional language.
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