Celebrity Sued For “Alienating People From Military Service”

In a TV show during the Northern Iraq military operation, the famous singer Ersoy demanded “solution instead of death” and Bakırköy Public Prosecutor sues her for “alienating people from military service.”

BIA News Service - İstanbul

10-05-2008

The famous transsexual singer Bülent Ersoy is sued for “alienating people from military service.”

According to daily Taraf, the authorities decided to open a case against Ersoy for “alienating people from military service” after investigating her words regarding how she would not sent her son to someone else’s war, which were said during a TV show.

Her words which brought the case were: “If I had given birth to a child and someone sitting at a desk had said ‘You will do this, he will do that’, and I would have buried my child, would I accept that?”

She will be tried under article 318

According to the report mentioned above, Bakırköy Public Prosecutor Ali Çakır asked for three year prison sentence for Bülen Ersoy, claiming that she committed the crime of “alienating people from military service.” Not only that the public prosecutor did not see Ersoy’s explanations within the context of freedom of expression and critique, he also included her speech in the scope of article 318, which regulates the deed of “alienating people from military service”, found under the category of crimes committed against the national defense, and thus first asked for two year prison sentence.

Ersoy gave her statement to the Public Prosecutor Ali Çakır on March 14.

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