A Turkish court gave a verdict against pop singer Gulsen Colakoglu this week, sentencing her to a 10-month suspended sentence for “inciting hatred and enmity”.
The charge stemmed from a joke she made about religious schools in Turkey, suggesting that “perversion” of one of her musicians came from attending such a school.
Although Gulsen had made the comment months earlier on stage, a pro-government daily republished a video of it in August, causing a backlash within the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Following the publication of the video, Gulsen was jailed and then placed under house arrest. During her trial, she apologised for any offence caused to religious school graduates but vehemently denied that she intended to “incite hatred”. The court initially sentenced her to one year in prison, but later commuted the sentence, taking into account her “respectful stance” during the trial.
Gulsen’s suspended sentence means that she will not serve any prison time, provided she is not convicted of another charge within the next five years. Gulsen maintained that her comment was meant to be a joke.
It is noteworthy that President Erdogan too attended an Imam Hatip school, which was established by the state to provide religious education to young men with the aim of becoming imams and preachers.
