Turkey court acquits singer of 'obscenity' charges

An Istanbul court on Friday acquitted Turkish singer-songwriter Mabel Matiz, who had faced a criminal complaint over a song deemed "obscene", one of his lawyers told AFP.

The interior ministry announced in September that it had filed the complaint against the openly gay artist, amid growing pressure on performers and repeated attacks by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against the LGBTQ community.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of up to three years in prison for the 40-year-old, but the court ruled that the elements of the crime of "obscenity" had not been met, his lawyer Efsun Turker said.

During the trial, a lawyer representing the family affairs ministry described the song as an "indecent act" while pro-government media accused Matiz of acting as an "LGBT missionary."

The artist defended himself on X at the time, saying his lyrics were being "deliberately twisted" and that the song drew on the tradition of Turkish folk literature, which "tells a love story through metaphors".

Sexual references are not uncommon in traditional Turkish folk music.