Since releasing a video clip for one of her songs, singer Sezen Aksu has faced threats. A group of government supporters filed a criminal complaint against her and she later became the target of the pro-government media, government politicians and their allies, and finally, President Erdoğan.
This statement was originally published on bianet.org on 23 January 2022.
The iconic singer has faced threats for “insulting Islam” over a 2017 song. In response to the president’s threats during a speech at a mosque, Aksu released the lyrics of a new song where she says, “You can’t crush my tongue.”
Iconic pop singer Sezen Aksu has faced threats over the past week because of a 2017 song of hers in which she says, “Say hello to those ignorant Eve and Adam.”
Aksu released a video clip for the song on New Year’s eve. About two weeks later, pro-government social media figures began to target Aksu over the song, accusing her of “insulting religious values.”
A group of government supporters filed a criminal complaint against Aksu and staged a protest in front of her house.
Aksu then became the target of the pro-government media, government politicians and their allies, and finally, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In a speech during the Friday prayers at İstanbul’s Grand Çamlıca Mosque, the president said, “No one can defame his holiness, Adam. It is our duty, when the time comes, to rip off the tongues of those who defame him. No one can defame her holiness Eve.”
The president, who has a habit of speaking to reporters after Friday prayers, chose to give a speech inside the mosque this time.
The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) and other mainstream media outlets did not cover his words threatening Aksu, but they were revealed after a video taken by a person in the mosque began to circulate on social media.
Having remained silent until then, Aksu made a statement on her Facebook account yesterday (January 22). She thanked those who announced their 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.
Lyrics of the song which Aksu named “The Hunter” (Avcı):
You can’t make me sad
I’m already very sad
I see pain wherever I look
I see pain wherever I look
I’m the prey and you’re the hunter
Shoot me then…
You can’t sense me
You can’t crush my tongue
I see pain wherever I look
I see pain wherever I look
Who is the traveler, who is the innkeeper
We’ll see…
You can’t kill me
I have my voice, my instruments, my words
When I say ‘me’, I mean everyone
(AS/VK)
