Hamdi Firat BuyukSarajevoBIRNSeptember 19, 202511:09The Interior Ministry is seeking to prosecute Mabel Matiz over his latest song, which it says is obscene and undermines public morality.
Mabel Matiz. Photo: Mabel Matiz/Facebook.
The Turkish Interior Ministry has filed a criminal complaint against gay singer Mabel Matiz over his latest song, “Perperisan”, for allegedly “violating morals” and for “obscenity”.
“A criminal complaint has been filed …with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office against the singer Mabel Matiz under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code,” the ministry said on Thursday. The article, which is included in the section of the penal code dealing with Crimes Against Public Morality, defines the crime of “obscenity”.
A court order on the same day, issued following a request from the Turkish Family Ministry, decreed that online platforms carrying music should block access to “Perperisan”.
However, the song was still accessible in Turkey on Friday morning on various digital platforms including YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.
Mabel Matiz condemned the official interpretation of the song as obscene. “It is being deliberately and extremely maliciously twisted into something entirely different, in a way that no reasonable person could possibly interpret. I am watching with astonishment,” Matiz wrote on X on Thursday.
An international production, “Perperisan” is featured on the France-based electronic music project Ko Shin Moon’s upcoming album Sin, which will be released in October, but the song was made available on digital platforms on September 5.
Matiz, whose real name is Fatih Karaca, is one of Turkey’s most famous pop musicians of the past decade. He has previously been the target of attacks and harassment from conservative groups.
The government of Turkey’s Islamist President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has recently increased its pressure on digital platforms, singers and musicians, claiming it needs to act to protect Turkish family values and morality.
The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on September 6 said that it had launched an investigation into the band Manifest on charges of “obscene acts” and “indecency” due to the group’s dances and performances.
On Thursday, the Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, the regulatory government agency for TV and radio broadcasts, fined several digital streaming platforms, including Netflix, Disney XD and Prime Video, for allegedly violating moral and family values and obscenity.
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