Group of youth forced to listen to nationalistic song under detention in Turkey

A group of young people was forced to listen to the nationalistic song “Ölürüm Türkiyem” (“I’d die for my Turkey”) under detention. The police detained the group after their video, which showed them dancing halay and shouting slogans, was targeted on social media.

Thursday July 25 2024 11:01 am

Duvar English

Nine young people on July 22 were detained after their social media video, in which they were dancing halay and shouting slogans, was targeted.

It came to earth that they were forced to listen to the nationalistic song “Ölürüm Türkiyem” (“I’d die for my Turkey”) while under detention, Mesopotamia News Agency reported on July 24.

In a video that spread on social media, young people were made to listen to the song inside the police bus during detention.

The song is a piece of nationalist folk music popular among nationalist groups.

While the footage went viral in a short time on social media, the young people whose faces were seen were once again targeted by racist remarks.

They were reportedly detained over allegedly “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” There is a confidentiality order on the investigation filed against the young people.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya commented on the incident on July 24 at the Turkish Parliament.

Yerlikaya said he got very emotional when listening to the song “Ölürüm Türkiyem,” and that it would “make all of us, everyone in this hall, feel exhilarated.”

“I mean, I don't believe that this was done to upset and offend the detained people on the instructions of the prosecutor. But people with the 'Biji Portugal' mentality are very few among us, and I do not regret in the slightest that there is a folk song that people with this mentality do not like,” he added.

Yerlikaya referred to former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Ferhat Encü tweeting “Bijî Portîkez” (“Viva, Portugal”) after the Portuguese men's national football team beat Turkey 3-0 in the Euro 2024 campaign.