In one of his latest videos, the blonde Gülsen is already behind bars. But these are covered in diamonds, and the Turkish pop star, in a sexy jumpsuit, sways suggestively, whispering syrupy words that Istanbul’s youth love: “If your arms are a prison, I want I’ll settle in there…” Unfortunately for her, her wish came true in real life: the 46-year-old icon was thrown in prison… for a simple joke.
Until now, the singer was better known for her videos with millions of views than for her political positions. His outfits, considered too light, his liberated attitude and his support for the cause of LGBT rights nevertheless made him the regular target of the Islamist press.
Everything changes on stage, in April, when Gülsen chambers a member of his group. “He did a religious school, his perversity comes from there,” laughs the native of Istanbul. Unnoticed, the video of the sequence was published on August 24 by a conservative newspaper, and convinced the Turkish courts to place the star in detention the next day, for “incitement to hatred”.
Secular youth and music festivals in the sights of the authorities
This arrest scandalizes Turkish youth. After the mobilization of her millions of fans and several associations, the singer was released from prison four days later, before being placed under house arrest. The prosecutor responsible for his indictment had already been noticed six months ago: he had then chosen not to prosecute a man who publicly threatened another famous singer, Sezen Aksu, to “shoot him in the head”. The “Turkish Madonna” had had the misfortune to mention Adam and Eve in a song, which had earned him threats from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself: he had promised to “cut the tongue of those who attack our prophet Adam”.
The Sezen Aksu case marked the beginning of an increasingly ferocious repression of religious power against secular youth. This summer, in Turkey, about fifteen music festivals were banned, accused of inciting debauchery, selling alcohol and promoting promiscuity between men and women. One year before the presidential election, the Islamist associations are finding a particularly attentive ear with the authorities.
Erdogan has never hidden his desire to shape Turkish society. “We are going to form a pious generation”, he declared in 2012. In twenty years in power, the stay promoted religious colleges and high schools, reformed school curricula (notably with the end of teaching the theory of evolution) and devoted billions of pounds from the state budget to religious activities.
“They have smeared religion”
However, Turkish youth is far from being receptive. “It’s even worse, they have alienated young people from religion by taking it over to make it a kind of official ideology,” an anonymous conservative intellectual complains, desperate not to succeed in transmitting his faith to his two teenage children. have smeared religion with all their corruption.” This change in mores is even reflected in clothing behavior: according to a study by the Konda Institute, while the veil is still worn by 53% of Turkish women, it is only worn by 35% of the youngest (15- 29 years).
By dint of promoting orthodox Sunni Islam, Erdogan has linked his image to that of the religious and their pronounced taste for censorship of “immoral” behavior. When it’s time to vote, young people are likely to remember it, and the economic crisis is not helping matters. “The desire to go and live abroad is extremely high among young people, including pro-Erdogan, underlines Demet Luküslü, sociologist of youth. The figures testify to the little hope they have in the future of the country and it is, in essence, a form of disavowal of political power.”
This disenchantment could be reflected at the polls in June 2023, when six million first-time voters will elect Turkey’s next president. More than 70% of them already rule out voting for Erdogan. The pop generation might just cut him off.