ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Zuhal Olcay, a prominent Turkish singer and actress, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while performing on stage in 2016. Olcay was alleged to have made an insulting hand gesture aimed at the Turkish president during a concert in Istanbul on August 5, 2016, Hurriyet reports. She also reportedly changed the lyrics to the song “Boş Vermişim Dünyayı” (I Let Go of the World) to criticize the president, singing: “Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it’s all empty, it’s all a lie, life will end one day and you’ll say ‘I had a dream.’” Footage of the incident was examined during the case, according to Anadolu Agency. Prosecutors had wanted Olcay jailed for up to four years and eight months. Olcay claimed she “had not had any other ulterior or insulting motive” when she used the president’s name, and that the hand gesture was aimed at a heckler in the audience. Turkish authorities have arrested hundreds of opposition politicians, journalists, activists and private citizens in recent months for criticizing the government, particularly its military incursion into Afrin. Social media critics have been branded terrorist sympathizers and Gulenists.
