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A Turkish pop star has reportedly been arrested on expenses of “inciting hatred” in response to a joke she instructed about non secular faculties within the nation.
Gulsen, a 46-year-old pop star in Turkey was taken away from her house in Istanbul for questioning and formally arrested late Thursday after she joked at a live performance in April that one in all her musicians’ “perversion” stemmed from attending an Islamic faculty.
“He studied at an Imam Hatip (faculty) beforehand,” the singer stated. “That’s the place his perversion comes from.”
A video of the singer’s remark started circulating on social media just lately, with a hashtag calling for her arrest.
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Turkish pop star Gulsen performs throughout a live performance in Istanbul, on April 10, 2016. Gulsen, whose full identify is Gulsen Colakoglu, has been arrested Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022, on expenses of “inciting hatred and enmity” over a joke she made about Turkey’s non secular faculties.
(AP Newsroom)
Gulsen was reportedly escorted to jail and is awaiting trial.
The arrest sparked outrage on social media. Authorities critics stated the transfer was an effort by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to consolidate assist from his non secular and conservative base forward of elections in 10 months.
Gulsen apologized for the offense the joke induced however stated her feedback have been seized on by these desirous to deepen polarization within the nation.
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Throughout her questioning by courtroom authorities, Gulsen rejected accusations that she incited hatred and enmity, and stated she had “countless respect for the values and sensitivities of my nation,” the state-run Anadolu Company reported.
Gulsen’s request to be launched from custody pending the end result of a trial was rejected.
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Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan holds a information convention through the NATO summit on the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 14, 2021.
(Reuters/Yves Herman/Pool/File Picture)
The spokesman for Erdogan’s Justice and Growth occasion, recognized by its Turkish acronym AKP, appeared nevertheless, to defend the choice to arrest the singer, saying “inciting hatred will not be an artwork type.”
“Focusing on a phase of society with the allegation of “perversion” and making an attempt to polarize Turkey is a hate crime and a shame to humanity,” AKP spokesman Omer Celik tweeted.
Related Press contributed to this report
