Turkey's media watchdog bans music video for words 'light up a cigarette'
Turkey's media watchdog banned Turkish pop singer Sıla's music video as the lyrics of the song tell a former lover to "light up a cigarette," which the Radio and Television High Council said encourages smoking. The investigation into the video was prompted by a complaint to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
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Turkey's Radio and Television High Council (RTÜK) banned Turkish pop artist Sıla's music video "Karanfil" ("carnation" in Turkish) for encouraging smoking.
A July 5 statement from RTÜK said that the video was banned, presumably for encouraging smoking as the song tells a former lover to "light up a cigarette."
The video was the subject of a former complaint to the Istanbul Chief Public Defender's Office from Sarıay Foundation, which self-identifies as a revival of the world's first anti-smoking campaign organization.
The chief public defender passed the issue onto the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry's Tobacco and Alcohol General Directorate, who then passed it onto RTÜK.
RTÜK's inspection of the video led to its ban at a mere 25,028,856 views on YouTube, less than one tenth some of the artist's other work.
As a response to RTÜK's ban on her video, the artist shared her video with a play on the lyrics "buy yourself a carnation on me," tweeting the words "on me" along with the banned video.
The Radio and Television High Council launched an investigation into Turkish-German rapper Sagopa Kajmer's "Toz Taneleri" ("dust particles" in Turkish) video in January upon a user's complaint on the same charges of encouraging smoking.