Because of her skimpy outfits, the Turkish singer Gülsen repeatedly aroused the anger of the media guards. Authorities are now arresting the musician for a stage joke. The judiciary accuses the 46-year-old of “incitement to hatred”.
A famous Turkish pop singer has been remanded in custody after joking about Islamic schools. The 46-year-old singer Gülsen Bayraktar Colakoglu, who is well known in Turkey under the stage name Gülsen, was arrested at her home in Istanbul and brought before a magistrate on Thursday. The judge ordered her to be held in custody pending the completion of the investigation into “incitement to hatred”.
On stage, Gülsen made a joke about the religious Imam Hatip schools: She jokingly told a colleague that his “perversion” was due to his school days at an Imam Hatip school. A video of the performance spread in the online networks and caused great outrage in the Islamic conservative party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AKP spokesman Ömer Celik spoke of a “hate crime and a disgrace to humanity”.
Gülsen had spoken out in the online networks before her arrest. She joked with colleagues she has worked with for many years, the singer said. “I’m sorry that my words have given substance to malicious people who want to divide our country,” she added. She didn’t want to insult or disparage anyone.
Gülsen’s lawyer Emek Emre announced that he would appeal against the singer’s detention and called for her immediate release. “Our client has committed no crime,” he told reporters.
Gülsen has released ten albums in her career so far. Since changing her image in 2004, she has appeared at concerts and in music videos, mostly lightly dressed. As a result, she has repeatedly had problems with the Turkish media regulator in the past.