Singer Gulsan Arrested – Grid Instead of Lightning: Turkish Singer Arrested for Comedy – News

A religious comedy with consequences

Four months ago, Coulson joked onstage during a show with his band. He said of a musician: “He goes to a religious high school. That’s why he’s so perverted today.

Now politics intervened and it was decided that Gulson should go to jail. The fact that Turkish President Erdogan’s party, the AKP, is reacting with such outrage may have something to do with Erdogan’s past.

“These religious high schools, called Imam Hatif schools, are a pet project of the Erdogan government. Erdogan went to such a school. Maybe that’s why he was offended,” Seibert says. The Erdogan government has been pushing these schools for years. These schools now have about 700,000 students.

According to freelance journalist Seibert, it’s more than just a pop singer’s joke about religious schools. So why did the Turkish government crack down on the Gulsen case? “Erdogan wants to further cement the division of the country into secular and Islamic-devout parts. He needs to rally his own supporters before the elections.”

In recent years, Erdogan has been able to rely on his voters because of his economic success. Now the Turkish economy is bleak. “So Erdogan needs a title that can bind people to him.” Gulsen.

Purana:

Erdogan wants to send a signal to his potential voters that he is taking action against the Western way of life. When he took office 20 years ago, he brought a devout Islamist faction to power.

Keystone/Watch Salem

Gulson’s arrest led to criticism of the government. “However, the government has managed to consolidate its position in the polls in recent months. Even though the economy continues to go down the drain,” Seibert explains. “Erdogan is trying to appeal to conservatives.”

There is no uniform size

The Coulson prank video turned into a problem four months later. “The explanations for such cases are always the same,” Seibert explains. Any of the whistleblowers should inform the government. Or authorities use complaints from the public.

“Officials are increasingly willing to respond to complaints from their own constituencies. The judiciary is officially said to be independent and to hear hate speech cases. However, those who are more on the side of the government can take all sorts of things without judicial intervention.

Imprisonment up to three years

Gulsan is currently in a women’s prison in Istanbul. There she awaits her trial date. He has a week to appeal the arrest warrant. “If I see it correctly, this complaint is unlikely to succeed. If public pressure continues to mount, he is likely to leave.” Otherwise, singer Coulson faces a process that could see her serve up to three years in prison.