Turkey Convicts World-Renowned Pianist for ‘Defaming’ Islam | FrontPage Magazine
by Andrew Harrod On April 23, 2013
A Turkish court on April 15, 2013, convicted world-renowned pianist Fazil Say under Article 216(3) of the Turkish Penal Code. This article punishes “[a]nyone who openly denigrates the religious values of a part of the population” with imprisonment of six months to a year. Say’s case highlights once again the limits to free speech in Muslim-majority countries including Turkey, often touted in the past as an example of Islamic faith coexisting with freedom. The world as well should note this clear warning about ongoing Muslim assaults upon free speech internationally.
The composer and pianist Say, who has played for the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, and other prominent orchestras, had made comments deemed offensive by various Muslims on his Twitter account. In one tweet, Say mocked a call to prayer measured by him as only 22 seconds in length. “Why such haste?” Say tweeted. “Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?” he asked in reference to a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed falling under Islam’s alcohol prohibition. Other Say tweets cited by the charges included one in which he questioned whether heaven was a tavern or brothel on the basis of a verse attributed to the famous medieval poet Omar Khayyam. Say, who was in southern Germany at the time of the verdict for a concert, received a10-month suspended sentence that he will not have to serve unless he commits the same offense in the next five years.
In response, Sevim Dağdelen, a Turkish-descent member of the German parliament and international affairs spokesperson for her Left party (Die Linke),condemned the verdict in a press release. Dağdelen had previously attended Say’s trial opening on October 18, 2012, (later postponed until February 18, 2013) and had drawn international attention to Says cause. The press release called the verdict a “scandal” of the “Erdoğan-Regime” and its “AKP justice” in reference to Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP party. She demanded an immediate end to German participation in Turkish European Union (EU) accession talks in order not “to reward the AKP for its running amok against democracy and human rights.” Ironically, Dağdelen’s party has its origins, in part, in the successor to East Germany’s Communists, the Party of Democratic Socialism (Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus or PDS).
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The composer and pianist Say, who has played for the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, and other prominent orchestras, had made comments deemed offensive by various Muslims on his Twitter account. In one tweet, Say mocked a call to prayer measured by him as only 22 seconds in length. “Why such haste?” Say tweeted. “Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?” he asked in reference to a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed falling under Islam’s alcohol prohibition. Other Say tweets cited by the charges included one in which he questioned whether heaven was a tavern or brothel on the basis of a verse attributed to the famous medieval poet Omar Khayyam. Say, who was in southern Germany at the time of the verdict for a concert, received a10-month suspended sentence that he will not have to serve unless he commits the same offense in the next five years.
In response, Sevim Dağdelen, a Turkish-descent member of the German parliament and international affairs spokesperson for her Left party (Die Linke),condemned the verdict in a press release. Dağdelen had previously attended Say’s trial opening on October 18, 2012, (later postponed until February 18, 2013) and had drawn international attention to Says cause. The press release called the verdict a “scandal” of the “Erdoğan-Regime” and its “AKP justice” in reference to Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP party. She demanded an immediate end to German participation in Turkish European Union (EU) accession talks in order not “to reward the AKP for its running amok against democracy and human rights.” Ironically, Dağdelen’s party has its origins, in part, in the successor to East Germany’s Communists, the Party of Democratic Socialism (Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus or PDS).
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