War Criticism in TV Casting Show

In the Turkish version of the 'Pop Idol' casting show, the popular singer Bülent Ersoy openly denounced the warmongering of her government. The video of Ersoy breaking this taboo on live television is now available on YouTube. Daniel Bax reports

Bülent Ersoy has certainly never been a fading flower and is always good for causing a stir. This time, however, Turkey's biggest transsexual superstar has touched on one of the country's most sacred taboos by calling Turkey's rampant militarism into question. During a live transmission of the popular television casting show Popstar Alaturka, she clashed with the pop singer Ebru Gündes, who is known for her nationalist attitudes.

While an image of the Turkish flag waved on a large screen behind her, Bülent Ersoy announced: "If I had a son, I would never send him to the army. After all, what are they dying for there? For nothing!" Her colleague Ebru Gündes coolly replied that if she ever had a son, she would certainly send him to the army so that he could gloriously defend the fatherland! Ersoy curtly retorted: "Yes, and he would be returned to you in a body bag."

Charges filed

This exchange on prime time television is causing a huge stir, especially now that the video is available for all to see on YouTube. The reactions to the incident have been diverse: on the one hand, a storm of outrage was unleashed in the online reader forums of Turkish newspapers such as Hürriyet, and a notorious public prosecutor even filed charges against Ersoy for disparaging the military. On the other, many can hardly disguise their glee at Ersoy's outspoken comments.

The reason being that while Turkish television is showing images of young soldiers in smart uniforms hunting members of the PKK in northern Iraq on a daily basis, Bülent Ersoy not only dared to question the sense of the manoeuvre, but also criticised the "hackneyed phrases" and the hero worship of the army.

A transsexual career in Turkey

Bülent Ersoy is one of the most colourful figures in the Turkish pop scene. Born a boy in Istanbul in 1952, Ersoy became one of the most popular singers in the world of solemn Turkish art music in the 1970s. In 1980, Ersoy underwent a sex change operation in London. On her return to Turkey she was forbidden to perform in public by General Kenen Evren, whose military junta had seized power following a coup a short time previously.

Ersoy spent the next eight years in Germany. When she returned to her native country, she picked up her successful career exactly where she had left off.

Today the corpulent diva is one of the most popular singers in Turkey and is a member of the jury on the casting show Popstar Alaturka. Last year, her marriage to a casting show contestant 30 years her junior caused a scandal in Turkey. She has since been divorced from him.

Daniel Bax

Translated from the German by Aingeal Flanagan

Qantara.de

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