Turkish pop star Gülşen arrested over religious schools joke

Source:The Guardian Date:27Aug2022

Gulsen’s arrest is a testament to the Empire of Horror Erdogan is trying to create out of Turkey.  If her crime existed, it is too light to be dealth with pre-trial arrest.   She had been selected as others before, such as Mrs Sedef Kabas, to intimidate secular citizens and to pander ot hard-core Islamists. The effort backfired. Turkish social media resonated with messages of support for Gulsen. It is also a major politicial miscalculation. The hard-core Islamist constituency declined to at most 4-8% of the population from 14-18%  five years ago. Moreover, her arrests sharpened the resolve of the secularists to flock to the polls to topple Erdogan. Here is the story as covered by the Guardian

The 46-year-old singer-songwriter, whose full name is Gülşen Çolakoğlu, was taken away from her home in Istanbul for questioning and formally arrested late on Thursday. She was then taken to a prison pending trial.

The arrest has sparked outrage on social media. Government critics said the move was an effort by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to consolidate support from his religious and conservative base ahead of elections in 10 months’ time.

The charges were based on a joke Gülşen made during an April concert in Istanbul, where she quipped that one of her musicians’ “perversion” stemmed from attending a religious school. A video of the singer’s comment began circulating on social media, with a hashtag calling for her arrest.ı

Gülşen – who previously became a target in conservative Islamic circles because of her revealing stage outfits and unfurling of an LGBTQ flag at a concert – apologised for the offence the joke caused but said her comments were seized on by those wanting to deepen polarisation in the country.