An Istanbul court on Wednesday handed down a 10-month suspended sentence to pop singer Gulshan in prison after convicting her of “inciting hatred and enmity” over a joke about religious schools in Turkey, according to the Turkish news agency, Anadolu Agency.
The singer-songwriter was briefly jailed last year for a joke she made at a concert when she sarcastically said one of her musicians was “perverted” because he attended a religious school.
The 46-year-old singer, whose full name is Gulshan Kolaoglu, was imprisoned for five days and then spent 15 days under house arrest, despite her apology for insulting graduates of religious schools.
And Anadolu Agency reported that the court found her guilty, on Wednesday, of the charges against her and initially sentenced her to a year in prison.
The court later reduced the sentence, citing its “respectful attitude” during the trial. Gulshan will face a prison sentence if she repeats the crime within the next five years.
There was no immediate comment from the singer.
Gulshan strongly rejected the accusations of “incitement to hate”, asserting that her statement “was a joke between two people”.
In her defense in court, she stated that she was joking with one of the band’s members, nicknamed “Imam”, who was not educated in a religious school.
Lawyer Ziya Ilker Goktas reiterated that the comment was a joke and asked for her acquittal, stressing that “there was no crime.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and many members of his ruling party are graduates of religious schools called Imam al-Khatib, which were originally established to train imams.
The Turkish Penal Code criminalizes incitement to hatred and enmity against different groups in society on the basis of class, race, religion or sect, and the law stipulates the imposition of penalties up to imprisonment in cases that lead to a threat to public safety.
Gulshan had previously faced criticism from Islamic circles because of her revealing clothes and raising the gay flag at a concert.
