Turkey’s media authority ‘phones broadcasters, warns against playing Sezen Aksu’s song’

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The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) called music channels one by one and warned them about playing Sezen Aksu's song "Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak" (Living is a wonderful thing).

As reported by Hüseyin Şimşek from daily BirGün, RTÜK has gotten involved in the incident after musician Sezen Aksu was pointed as a target and faced with a criminal complaint over her song from five years ago where she says, "Say hello to the ignorant Adam and Eve..."

RTÜK Vice Chair İbrahim Uslu reportedly called all music channels and talked to the channel executives, "warning" them that they could face grave sanctions if they play Aksu's song. Uslu "made the same warning about all songs against national and spiritual values."

Speaking to BirGün, Uslu has alleged that the related phone calls were made "so that no harm would come to the channels."

"We made a warning about Sezen Aksu's song which has recently come to the public agenda," Uslu has told the daily, briefly adding:

"We definitely didn't give an instruction like 'Don't play Sezen Aksu'. We don't have such legal power anyway. The song is being probed and while the discretion lies with the outlets, we warned them to act cautiously so that they won't be aggrieved. Because if a problem is found, we will have to take action and the outlets will face administrative fines all of a sudden.

"By the way, we made a warning not only about this song, but we also made a general warning about not playing the music pieces that do not protect the necessary sensibilities concerning national and spiritual values. We generally warn media outlets beforehand. So that they will not be aggrieved...

"But it is not up to us to decide what is to be broadcast and what not. We made the warning; the discretion lies with our media outlets."

What happened?

Singer Sezen Aksu was targeted by pro-government people over her song "Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak" (Living is a wonderful thing) from the year 2017 for saying, "Say hello to the ignorant Adam and Eve..."

Applying to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, a lawyer named Mikail Yılmaz and a group of people accompanying him filed a criminal complaint against Aksu on charge of "insulting religious values and provocation or degrading." A group of pro-government people also gathered in front of Aksu's house and staged a protest. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli also targeted Sezen Aksu in his weekly Parliamentary group meeting. (AÖ/SD)