Turkey: Popular singer acquitted of anti-military remarks
Singer and tv host Bülent Ersoy has been acquitted of charges against her for having made anti-military remarks during a tv programme broadcasted on 24 February 2008.
Bülent Ersoy was charged with “alienating people from military service” over her remarks at the show Popstar Alaturka where she was a juror. Ersoy said “If I had a son; some people will make a decision around a table and will say ´You will do this and they will do that´, and I will bury my child. This won’t happen.”
Bakırköy public prosecutor Ali Çakır wanted Bülent Ersoy to be imprisoned for up to three years. Military service is obligatory for men over the age of 20 in Turkey, and it is a crime to speak against it.
Bülent Ersoy was acquitted at a hearing at The 18th Criminal Court of First Instance on 18 December 2008. At the end of the hearing, the presiding judge Ülker Kirazcı ruled that Bülent Ersoy’s remarks were personal thoughts she had expressed in line with her right to freedom of speech and thought.
The Malatya Criminal Court has sentenced the band members of Grup Munzur to 10 months imprisonment for singing a Kurdish song at a concert held in June 2008
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Tunceli Prosecution Office has filed a case against folk singer Pınar Sağ and poet Mehmet Özcan charging them with two years prison sentences for "praising crime".
Ferhat Tunç was one of the artists who performed in Istanbul on 8 November 2009 in front of 200,000 people protesting for the rights of a religious minority
A statement in favour of a new plan on how the Turkish government should approach the Kurdish issue turned fans of the popular Turkish pop diva Sezen Aksu up against her
