Mabel Matiz: Music and Censorship in Turkey
Mabel Matiz, one of Turkey’s most famous pop singers, risks prison for his latest song, which has been labeled “obscenity” because it sings of homosexual love: a further crackdown on the LGBT community in the “Year of the Family” decreed by the AKP
Mabel_Matiz
Mabel Matiz - Wikimedia Commons
Musician Mabel Matiz released the single “Perperişan”, a collaboration with Paris-based group Ko Shin Moon, on September 5. The track is a playful love song recalling the erotically charged pop music of the 1990s and a long tradition of ribald folk songs in Turkey.
The Ministry of Family and Social Services made an official request for access to the song to be blocked on streaming and video platforms like Spotify and YouTube within Turkey on September 17. “The song’s content could harm the institution of the family,” “negatively affect children,” and “disrupt public order” according to the Ministry’s petition to the Ankara Criminal Court of Peace.
“Perperişan” roughly translates to “hot and bothered” or “lovelorn.” The song’s poetic lyrics can be interpreted as alluding to a sexual relationship between two men, with lines like: “He should come and taste me” and “I have half a mind to jump his bones and release the bird in the cage.” Though the Turkish language does not have gendered pronouns, the lyrics implicitly suggest a male lover.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry took the unusual step of announcing on X that a criminal complaint had been filed against the musician, born Fatih Karaca, on September 18. An outspoken advocate for LGBT+ rights, in 2022 the artist had his music video for the song “Karakol” (The Police Station) banned for implied homoeroticism by Turkey’s broadcasting regulator, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK).
Matiz is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters. Since 2012, his albums have topped the country’s charts. He has frequently performed abroad in top concert halls in Berlin, London, and Paris. He also composes songs for other famous singers such as Nilüfer and Göksel.
Matiz was summoned to a court in Istanbul to testify on the charge of “obscenity” on September 22. The criminal complaint is based on Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes the distribution or publication of content deemed “obscene.”
In a public statement, Matiz explained that as the writer of over 100 songs, he drew on “the tradition of folk literature” to “narrate a love story with a mischievous narrative tone with which listeners will be familiar.” Directly responding to the charges against him, he wrote, “I would like to think that our public order and health are not so fragile as to be threatened by a simple song.”
Despite this testimony, Matiz was officially indicted for “facilitating the publication of obscene materials” and was released on bail with an international travel ban, forcing him to cancel an upcoming concert in the Netherlands. He still faces prison time if found guilty.
The official indictment claims that the song’s lyrics are “provocative in their indirect depiction of sexual desire” and use “imagery related to sexual intercourse that can be easily understood by all.” However, the charge of obscenity should not be applied to song lyrics, as lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz argued in a post on X. Article 226 explicitly states that it does not encompass “works with artistic or literary value.”
Turkey’s Human Rights Association released a statement arguing that for “art and music to be so brutally targeted is an open attack not only on the artist in question but everyone’s freedom of expression.” The association linked the charges against Matiz to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s declaration of 2025 as the “Year of the Family.”
President Erdoğan launched the year’s program with a speech on January 13 in which he described the necessity of protecting children from “poisonous trends, poisonous thoughts, and from deviant ideologies that threaten our family and social structure.” He slammed LGBT+ identity as part of a policy of “gender-neutralization” imported from the West.
There has been a noticeable increase in repression of the LGBT+ community since the Year of the Family was announced. On October 15, a leaked draft of the Turkish government’s 11th Judicial Reform Package revealed sweeping legal changes that would see LGBT+ individuals and anyone “not acting according to their gender” face prison time for “encouraging immorality.”
If approved by parliament, these proposals would mean the “criminalization of any expression of LGBTI identities” and “jail terms based on gender stereotypes and how [people] present themselves,” as noted by Amnesty International. The proposed law’s definition of immorality is vague enough to encompass a wide variety of lifestyles and behaviors that do not fit into the government’s vision of family values.
Much of the recent pressure against LGBT+ identity, gender self-presentation, and sexual expression has taken place in the realm of art and culture. Besides Matiz, another target is the girl group Manifest, composed of six young women brought together in a Korean pop music-inspired YouTube competition earlier this year. Since the release of their first song in February, Manifest has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, topped the charts in Turkey, and sold out multiple large concert venues.
After a September 6 concert in Istanbul, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s office launched an investigation against the group for “indecent behavior” and “exhibitionism” based on Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code. Concert footage of the young women dressed and dancing in the standard style of mainstream international pop acts like BLACKPINK and Dua Lipa was then banned using a recent law that allows the blocking of online content that threatens national security and public health.
After being summoned to an Istanbul court to give testimony, the six women in the group plus their collaborator AYDEED were accused of “violating society’s common sense of decency” for dance moves that “carry a sexual character,” according to the indictment. They face a prison sentence between six months and one year if convicted. The women were released with an international travel ban on the condition of regular check-ins with the authorities.
In September, Turkey’s broadcasting regulator RTÜK requested the removal of films and television series with sex scenes and/or LGBT+ representation from online platforms, including the film “All of Us Strangers” on Disney+ and the series “Those About To Die” on Amazon Prime. A law passed in 2019 gives the media watchdog authority to audit what these digital platforms show in Turkey. The RTÜK report claimed that these works “contravene general morality and the principle of protecting the family.”
According to the Human Rights Association, repression under the pretence of morality is a key feature of the Year of the Family in Turkey. “Rather than really protecting the family, this [declaration] has become a cover for policies that repress alternative lifestyles and reduce freedom for women and LGBT+ people,” reads a statement on Matiz.
Mabel Matiz: Music and Censorship in Turkey
Mabel Matiz, one of Turkey’s most famous pop singers, risks prison for his latest song, which has been labeled “obscenity” because it sings of homosexual love: a further crackdown on the LGBT community in the “Year of the Family” decreed by the AKP
Mabel_Matiz
Mabel Matiz - Wikimedia Commons
Musician Mabel Matiz released the single “Perperişan”, a collaboration with Paris-based group Ko Shin Moon, on September 5. The track is a playful love song recalling the erotically charged pop music of the 1990s and a long tradition of ribald folk songs in Turkey.
The Ministry of Family and Social Services made an official request for access to the song to be blocked on streaming and video platforms like Spotify and YouTube within Turkey on September 17. “The song’s content could harm the institution of the family,” “negatively affect children,” and “disrupt public order” according to the Ministry’s petition to the Ankara Criminal Court of Peace.
“Perperişan” roughly translates to “hot and bothered” or “lovelorn.” The song’s poetic lyrics can be interpreted as alluding to a sexual relationship between two men, with lines like: “He should come and taste me” and “I have half a mind to jump his bones and release the bird in the cage.” Though the Turkish language does not have gendered pronouns, the lyrics implicitly suggest a male lover.
Turkey’s Interior Ministry took the unusual step of announcing on X that a criminal complaint had been filed against the musician, born Fatih Karaca, on September 18. An outspoken advocate for LGBT+ rights, in 2022 the artist had his music video for the song “Karakol” (The Police Station) banned for implied homoeroticism by Turkey’s broadcasting regulator, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK).
Matiz is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters. Since 2012, his albums have topped the country’s charts. He has frequently performed abroad in top concert halls in Berlin, London, and Paris. He also composes songs for other famous singers such as Nilüfer and Göksel.
Matiz was summoned to a court in Istanbul to testify on the charge of “obscenity” on September 22. The criminal complaint is based on Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes the distribution or publication of content deemed “obscene.”
In a public statement, Matiz explained that as the writer of over 100 songs, he drew on “the tradition of folk literature” to “narrate a love story with a mischievous narrative tone with which listeners will be familiar.” Directly responding to the charges against him, he wrote, “I would like to think that our public order and health are not so fragile as to be threatened by a simple song.”
Despite this testimony, Matiz was officially indicted for “facilitating the publication of obscene materials” and was released on bail with an international travel ban, forcing him to cancel an upcoming concert in the Netherlands. He still faces prison time if found guilty.
The official indictment claims that the song’s lyrics are “provocative in their indirect depiction of sexual desire” and use “imagery related to sexual intercourse that can be easily understood by all.” However, the charge of obscenity should not be applied to song lyrics, as lawyer Hüseyin Ersöz argued in a post on X. Article 226 explicitly states that it does not encompass “works with artistic or literary value.”
Turkey’s Human Rights Association released a statement arguing that for “art and music to be so brutally targeted is an open attack not only on the artist in question but everyone’s freedom of expression.” The association linked the charges against Matiz to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s declaration of 2025 as the “Year of the Family.”
President Erdoğan launched the year’s program with a speech on January 13 in which he described the necessity of protecting children from “poisonous trends, poisonous thoughts, and from deviant ideologies that threaten our family and social structure.” He slammed LGBT+ identity as part of a policy of “gender-neutralization” imported from the West.
There has been a noticeable increase in repression of the LGBT+ community since the Year of the Family was announced. On October 15, a leaked draft of the Turkish government’s 11th Judicial Reform Package revealed sweeping legal changes that would see LGBT+ individuals and anyone “not acting according to their gender” face prison time for “encouraging immorality.”
If approved by parliament, these proposals would mean the “criminalization of any expression of LGBTI identities” and “jail terms based on gender stereotypes and how [people] present themselves,” as noted by Amnesty International. The proposed law’s definition of immorality is vague enough to encompass a wide variety of lifestyles and behaviors that do not fit into the government’s vision of family values.
Much of the recent pressure against LGBT+ identity, gender self-presentation, and sexual expression has taken place in the realm of art and culture. Besides Matiz, another target is the girl group Manifest, composed of six young women brought together in a Korean pop music-inspired YouTube competition earlier this year. Since the release of their first song in February, Manifest has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, topped the charts in Turkey, and sold out multiple large concert venues.
After a September 6 concert in Istanbul, the Chief Public Prosecutor’s office launched an investigation against the group for “indecent behavior” and “exhibitionism” based on Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code. Concert footage of the young women dressed and dancing in the standard style of mainstream international pop acts like BLACKPINK and Dua Lipa was then banned using a recent law that allows the blocking of online content that threatens national security and public health.
After being summoned to an Istanbul court to give testimony, the six women in the group plus their collaborator AYDEED were accused of “violating society’s common sense of decency” for dance moves that “carry a sexual character,” according to the indictment. They face a prison sentence between six months and one year if convicted. The women were released with an international travel ban on the condition of regular check-ins with the authorities.
In September, Turkey’s broadcasting regulator RTÜK requested the removal of films and television series with sex scenes and/or LGBT+ representation from online platforms, including the film “All of Us Strangers” on Disney+ and the series “Those About To Die” on Amazon Prime. A law passed in 2019 gives the media watchdog authority to audit what these digital platforms show in Turkey. The RTÜK report claimed that these works “contravene general morality and the principle of protecting the family.”
According to the Human Rights Association, repression under the pretence of morality is a key feature of the Year of the Family in Turkey. “Rather than really protecting the family, this [declaration] has become a cover for policies that repress alternative lifestyles and reduce freedom for women and LGBT+ people,” reads a statement on Matiz.
