According to the news in Evrensel, a lawsuit has been filed against the artist for his comment on social media about a caricature published in the “Spiegel” newspaper. In his comment, he said, “The one who drew it explained it well, congratulations to them. The one who secures his donkey feels relaxed, while the one who doesn’t always cries.” He is accused of “insulting the President.” The first hearing is scheduled for February 1, 2024.
“In the open-source research investigation and evaluation report prepared about Baran, it is stated that “In the post, dated 11/24/2019, made with the comment ‘The one who drew it explained it well, congratulations to them. The one who secures his donkey feels relaxed, while the one who doesn’t always cry’, where it was attempted to portray that in our country, Kurdish citizens are being tortured by an individual identified as ‘KURD’ crucified with nails by our President on the NATO emblem in line with the organization’s propaganda.”
Ali Baran reportedly commented to Evrensel regarding the lawsuit:
“The government is suing anyone from the birds in the sky to the ants on the ground for their policies. The real aim is to punish us, exile us, and remove us from our homeland. Erdogan is not in that caricature. But they are trying to silence us, intimidate us, and alienate us from our people with excuses. They fear us, the folk bards who keep the culture alive by singing in our language. We are living witnesses of the language and culture they claim does not exist. The more we spread our message, the more hostile and resentful they become. We do not want Turks or Kurds to die. We want to live together in equality and peace. These are just excuses; they want to silence us, intimidate us, and alienate us from our people.” Baran was detained at Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul this March while he was in the city for a new album project and was released with a travel ban. He was on trial with the accusation of “propaganda for a terrorist organization,” and was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison in the hearing held in April.
