ISTANBUL, Turkey — Singer Mihemed Sexo died 29 years ago. His song, titled “My rose,” was declared material “promoting terrorism” by Turkey’s state-owned television network, TRT, on Wednesday. TRT announced it will no longer air the popular Kurdish folk song. The measure, unprecedented in decades, targeted 208 songs, including modern pop Turkish-language music such as Sila’s Afitap, whose YouTube version has more than 50 million views. While most of the Kurdish songs were banned on terrorism-related charges, the Turkish songs were blacklisted from several state-funded radio and television channels because they were deemed “immoral.” By immoral, TRT said in a tweet, it meant content that shows consumption of alcohol and cigarettes. Rudaw has found that many of the songs don’t include such scenes. The last time TRT took a similar measure was after the 1980 coup when the military imposed draconian rules on society, including banning the public from reading certain poetry books. TRT has not explained the basis on which music is judged to be terrorist propaganda material. Some people saw Thursday’s measure by the government broadcaster as a move within a broader attempt by the Islamist-leaning government to impose a certain lifestyle on all of society. “They would like to impose their way of life over all the country,” said Zeynep Tanbay, a political activist in Istanbul. “Just because they don’t listen to these songs they want nobody to listen those songs. Just because they call something ‘terrorism’ they want whole Turkey call it ‘terrorism’. They believe in a lifestyle and impose it on all of the country. But by oppression they can’t do it,” she added. Following the failed 2016 coup attempt, Turkey has jailed hundreds of people including journalists, human rights activists, and lawmakers on terrorism-related charges.
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