Who is Gulsen? #FreeGulsen movement takes over Twitter as Turkish singer is jailed over religious schools joke

Turkish pop star Gulsen Colakoglu was recently arrested on alleged charges of “inciting hatred and enmity” after a video of her making a joke about religious schools in Turkey went viral online.

The singer made the joke during a concert in Istanbul while speaking about one of her band members’ educational backgrounds. She said at the time:

“He attended the Imam Hatip schools. That’s where the perversion comes from.”

The Imam Hatip school reportedly served as the alma mater of many prominent names in the country, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As Colakoglu’s joke surfaced on social media, some people launched a hashtag calling for her arrest. She was formally detained on Thursday and taken to prison pending trial.

Gulsen’s arrest also led to mass outrage on social media, with several people demanding her freedom. Reports suggest that the singer requested to be released from prison while awaiting the result of her trial, but the plea was allegedly rejected by authorities.

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Gulsen is known as "Turkish Madonna"

Gulsen is a popular Turkish singer and songwriter (Image via Gulsen/Twitter)

Gulsen, aka Gulsen Bayraktar Colakoglu, is a renowned Turkish singer and songwriter. She was born on May 29, 1976, and grew up in Istanbul. She graduated from Sehremini High School and later enrolled in Istanbul Technical University.

The 46-year-old also started performing at bars and eventually left university to pursue a career in music. She reportedly trained in the classical music department of her university before being discovered by a composer in 1995 during one of her bar performances.

Colakoglu garnered significant fame after releasing her debut album Be Adam in 1996 and went on to deliver a total of nine studio albums. Her fourth album Of... Of... (2004) was a major hit in Turkey followed by fifth album album Yurtta Ask Cihanda Ask (2006), which earned Mu-Yap certification.

The musician earned recognition for her blend of pop and traditional Ottoman music and was dubbed as “Turkish Madonna.” Her 2013 album Beni Durdursan Mi? became Turkey's best-selling album that year and her 2015 album Bangir Bangir became the second best-selling album of the year.

Colakoglu also had the most number of views on YouTube by a Turkish singer for her Bangir Bangir music video in 2015. She even became the first Turkish singer to have a music video viewed over 200 million times on YouTube in 2016.

Colakoglu is also the recipient of several awards and accolades, including nine Kral Turkey Music Awards and six Golden Butterfly Awards. On a personal front, the singer was married to Murat Varol between 1997 and 2000. Following their separation, she married composer Ozan Colakoglu in 2016.

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Twitter demands freedom for Gulsen following her arrest

Gulsen Colakoglu, one of the most popular musicians in Turkey, has long been a target of the conservative circles of her country for her outspoken views, bold outfit choices and vocal support to the LGBTQ+ community.

More recently, the singer faced legal charges and was arrested for making a joke about Turkish religious schools. Following her detention, several fans and admirers took to Twitter to seek her release and launched the #FreeGulsen hashtag in Colakoglu’s support:

In the wake of her arrest, Colakoglu apologized for her joke and said that she never intended to cause any division or harm. She also mentioned that her comments were “seized” by a certain group of people who wanted to polarize Turkey.

Meanwhile, Omer Celik, the spokesperson for Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), defended the singer’s arrest and said that “inciting hatred is not an art form.”

“Targeting a segment of society with the allegation of ‘perversion’ and trying to polarise Turkey is a hate crime and a disgrace to humanity.”

However, Colakoglu denied the accusations during a questioning session by the court authorities and said that she had “endless respect for the values and sensitivities” of her country.