“He graduated from Imam Hatip (religious schools). That’s where his perverted side comes from,” he said.
Several Twitter users shared the video Thursday with a hashtag calling for her arrest and saying it’s offensive to associate schools with perverts.
Gulsen denies committing any crime and is appealing the arrest, according to her lawyer Emek Emre.
After her arrest, Gulsen shared a message on her official Twitter and Instagram accounts, apologizing to “anyone who was offended” by the joke and saying it had been twisted by “malicious people who aim to polarize our country.”
“I made a joke with my colleagues, with whom I have worked for many years in the business. It has been published by people who aim to polarize society,” he said.
“In standing up for the freedom I believe in, I see myself being thrown towards the radical end I criticize. I apologize to anyone who was offended by my speech in the video,” he said.
She later said in a deposition that it was an “unfortunate joke” and asked to be released, saying she had a child who depends on her and would come to court or a police station when necessary, according to Anadolu.
Gulsen has previously been targeted by Turkish conservative groups for her revealing clothing and support for the LGBTQ community.
The Muslim-majority country is officially secular, but highly polarized on issues surrounding secularism, religion, women’s rights, and LGBTQ rights.
Imam Hatip schools, which teach religious studies alongside the Turkish curriculum, have grown in the two decades the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power. The schools are known for training young people to become imams or preachers. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the school, as did many members of the AKP party.
Controversy in Turkey
Reactions to the arrest came from ordinary Turks, celebrities and even political parties. After her arrest, social media posts showed Gulsen’s fans in a packed soccer stadium singing her songs in solidarity. Award-winning British-Turkish novelist Elif Safak called for Gülsen’s release, as did other cultural figures. “Deeply saddened by the arrest of artist @gulsen. She was targeted because she courageously stood up for women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, secularism, democracy and pluralism. This is a lynching campaign. It is neither legal nor conscientious. Free immediately . # gulsenserbestbırakılsın,” he tweeted. Iconic Turkish pop star Tarkan also took to Twitter on Friday, writing that “this injustice against Gulsen must end and Gulsen must be released immediately.” “Those who prosecute those without arrest and sometimes even release them without trial who sexually abuse children, murder women, rape women, but when it comes to Gulsen, they act quickly. Our legal system, which ignores those who are corrupt, steal, break the law, slaughter nature, kill animals, use religion as a tool for their own bigoted ideas and polarize society, arrest Gulsen in one fell swoop,” he also wrote. AKP members defended the arrest, with AKP spokesman Omer Celik saying “inciting hatred is not an art form” in a tweet. The Turkish Minister of Finance and Finance, Dr. Nurettin Nebati, wrote on Twitter: “Our high schools Imam Hatip are our distinguished institutions that raise generations equipped with our national and moral values and have moral maturity. that targets our youth studying in Imam Hatip schools and I find it unacceptable” . Meanwhile, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party described the backlash against Gulsen as a manufactured row aimed at “pitting our young people against each other”. “The winds of peace have been blowing for a long time between young people with different lifestyles. The goal (of the arrest) is to take a joke that has outlived its purpose and pit our young people against each other. It is to stay more in power, and more to steal and sting,” tweeted Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey are scheduled to be held early next summer.
