Arrest of Kabaş, targeting of Aksu reveal 'politics of chaos knows no limits’

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The Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch has released a written statement and expressed support for musician Sezen Aksu, who was targeted by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and journalist Sedef Kabaş, who has been arrested for "insulting the President" over her words on a TV program.

The Association has requested an end to the remarks and attitudes turning Sezen Aksu into a target and to the imprisonment of Sedef Kabaş.

Calling on "everyone who are against this course of events to fulfill their duties", the İHD İstanbul Branch has said:

It is up to us to prevent the chaos imposed on us. The lynching campaign against Sezen Aksu over the lyrics of her song 'It is a wonderful thing to live' and the arrest of journalist Sedef Kabaş for insulting the President over a proverb that she uttered in her program and could be described as heavy criticism at most have once again revealed that this issue has now gone beyond the debate on freedom of expression and the legality of arrest, the politics of chaos that the government engages in with the support of oppression and unlawfulness and could lead to grave consequences knows no limits and we do not have much time left to say stop to this dangerous course of events.

Further in its statement, the İstanbul Branch of the İHD has referred to the remarks of Erdoğan, who said, "No one can defame his holiness, Adam. It is our duty, when the time comes, to rip out the tongues of those who defame him. No one can defame her holiness Eve."

The İHD has underlined that the debate on Sezen Aksu's song from five years ago became a topic in the Friday sermons read out at mosques with the involvement of the Presidency of Religious Affairs and that Erdoğan uttered the related threats against Aksu at a mosque by addressing the congregation there and defining it as a "duty". According to the İHD, this points to the fact that "the congregation was instigated to carry out an attack and Sezen Aksu was turned into an open target."

Raising concerns about the "increasing political murders and executions in times of chaos that are created", the İHD İstanbul Branch has "warned the state authorities and the government about this dangerous course of events" and called out to everyone who says that they are against this course of events, urging them to fulfill their duties considering that "this attitude of the government, which invites state of emergency practices, hate attacks and political executions, can only be prevented with an urgent and powerful resistance of democratic forces of society."

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 Sezen 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.

In a speech during the Friday prayers at İstanbul's Grand Çamlıca Mosque, President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also targeted Aksu, saying, "No one can defame his holiness, Adam. It is our duty, when the time comes, to rip out the tongues of those who defame him. No one can defame her holiness Eve."

Having remained silent until then, Aksu made a statement on Facebook on January 22. She thanked those who announced support for her and said, "As you know, the matter is not me, the matter is the country."

Aksu also shared the lyrics of a new song, which she said she wrote the day before. "You can't crush my tongue," she says in the song, apparently in response to Erdoğan's threats. In a short time, people on social media translated the lyrics into more than 30 languages. (AS/SD)