Kurdish musician Zelal Gökçe briefly detained in İstanbul

Gökçe was brought to the courthouse to give a statement to prosecutors in an investigation for "terror prpaganda."

İstanbul

Click to read the article in Turkish

Kurdish musician Zelal Gökçe was detained in İstanbul Airport at around midnight, Mezopotamya Agency (MA) reported.

Gökçe was taken to the İstanbul Courthouse to give a statement to prosecutors and was later released at around 3 p.m., according to Twitter posts by Hivda Göksel, another Kurdish musician.

She had a warrant against her because of an investigation for "propagandizing for a terrorist organization," according to reports in the media. (RT/VK)

Origin

BIA News Desk

Where is Pikachu?

Whilst the images have caused much humour in the west, here there is more to it than that.

David R. Mellor

Where is Pikachu? — This AI-generated version of the "Turkish Pikachu" went viral on social media.

Pikachu has been deported, or is under house arrest. Since video images are not shown on mainstream media, we are left in limbo. It is hoped other cartoon or Marvel characters will come to the rescue. Most wishing for Spiderman, Ironman or Superman; someone who could be quite useful for the demonstrators at the moment.

At present it would appear that the government have only Daffy Duck or Mister Magoo leading their charge, it would be no match.

Whilst the images have caused much humour in the west, here there is more to it than that. You couldn’t think of a more likable Pokémon than Pikachu, loved by all children.

🇹🇷 #BREAKING | Pikachu was spotted fleeing from the police during anti-Erdoğan protests in Turkey. pic.twitter.com/NhTgV7FqHe
— Universal News (@universalnewsx) March 27, 2025

This coupled with kindergarten games of jumping together at demos now, with thousands doing this saying if you don’t you are then a name they disapprove of, phone lights in the air with beaming smiles of unity, are just the equivalent of name calling at school.

It is the lighter side to free expression away from the dogma they perceive in the country. Other incidents are a demonstrator as a whirling dervish in front of the police, water cannoned, or someone doing a Christiano Ronaldo celebration or groups doing press-ups. All this points to different more light headed fun-loving and different Turkey to the one they experience day to day. They (peaceful demonstrators) are of course demonised by certain sections as, in not so many words, unturkish.

And yet these are the very same people who would:

Help your elderly relative to cross the road.

Stand next to you singing their heart to the national anthem at a football ground.

Some will pray in the mosque, celebrate Ramadan and bayram with all their family like you.

Whether you believe it or not, because they are you, they are a part of what makes Turkey great. They may be the other side of the fence, but not the other end of the world.

To end on a lighter note, alleged images of Pikachu drinking in ExpressoLab, is an attempt to undermine the moral of students. To me he is now old hat, I would much rather see people dressed as Bambi. I mean who would ever dream of water cannoning Bambi, or would they?

Disclaimer: Pikachu, Bambi, Ironman Superman, Mr Magoo or Daffy Duck have not, or ever been a part of any political party.

That’s all folks

For now…

Origin

Istanbul

Crackdown on İmamoğlu protests

David R. Mellor

all articles of the author

David R. Mellor is from Liverpool, England. He spent his late teens homeless on Merseyside. He is currently writing and performing in Turkey. His work...

David R. Mellor is from Liverpool, England. He spent his late teens homeless on Merseyside. He is currently writing and performing in Turkey. His work has been featured by the BBC and the Tate, and his published collections of poetry are What a Catch (2013), Some Body (2013), Express Nothing (2019) and So This Is It (2020). His collection of stories An Englishman in Turkey – Türkiye’de Bir İngiliz is recently published in Turkish.