Composer faces jail over Islam tweets

Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say was charged with inciting religious hatred and insulting Islamic values in a series of tweets. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR Source: AFP

A TOP pianist and composer who has played around the world faces jail if he offends the religious again, having been handed a suspended sentence for tweets called "disrespectful" to Islam.

Fazil Say, 43, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony and other world orchestras, was on trial in Turkey for sending tweets last year, including one that joked about a religious leader and some Islamic practices.

He is the latest in a series of intellectuals and artists to be prosecuted in Turkey for expressing opinions and his case has raised further concerns over rights and freedoms in the country, a democracy with a mostly Muslim population that seeks membership in the European Union.

Say is a strong critic of the Islamic-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim who expounds conservative values, alarming some secular Turks who fear the government plans to make religion part of their lifestyle.

In one tweet, Say joked about a call to prayer that he said lasted only 22 seconds. Say tweeted: "Why such haste? Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?" Raki is a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed. Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists consider the remarks unacceptable.

The charges against Say also cite other tweets he sent, including one - based on a verse attributed to famous medieval poet Omar Khayyam - that questioned whether heaven was a tavern or a brothel, because of the promises that wine will flow and each believer will be greeted by virgins.

Emre Bukagili, a citizen who filed the initial complaint against Say, said in an emailed statement that the musician had used "a disrespectful, offensive and impertinent tone toward religious concepts such as heaven and the call to prayer".

Lawyer Meltem Akyol said the pianist's 10-month jail sentence has been suspended for five years, which means he would have to serve time if he reoffends in that period.

"We are sad for the country," Akyol told The Associated Press.

The lawyer said Say, who has served as an EU cultural ambassador, has not made any decision yet whether to appeal the verdict. He has closed his Twitter account, however.

Turkey has a history of prosecuting its artists and writers, and the EU has long encouraged the nation to improve freedom of speech if it wants to become a member of the bloc.

Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has been prosecuted for his comments about the mass killings of Armenians under a law that made it a crime to insult the Turkish identity before the government eased that law in an amendment in 2008.

In 2007, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who received death threats because of his comments about the killings of Armenians by Turks in 1915, was shot dead outside his office in Istanbul.

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