Source: “RTÜK’ten Teoman ve Demir Demirkan kliplerine ceza!,” (“The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) Issues Fines to Music Videos by Teoman and Demir Demirkan!”) Radikal, 03 February 2014, http://www.radikal.com.tr/hayat/rtukten_teoman_ve_demir_demirkan_kliplerine_ceza-1173918
RTÜK pronounced Teoman’s music video “Dancing Alone” (Tek Başına Dans) as “voluptuous” and Demir Demirkan’s video “Beyond Love’”(Aşktan Öte) as “erotic.” Two TV channels which broadcasted the clips were given warning fines.
In the meeting of RTÜK, Teoman’s music video aired on 21 November 2013 on Güney TV, which broadcasts from Tarsus. According to the RTÜK report, “The video clip consists of voluptuous images in which women working in strip-tease clubs play tricks to seduce men. Women are doing a strip-tease with underwear and erotic wear, which reduces the human body to an instrument of sexual incitement.”
RTÜK members by a majority vote found the video to include “possible damage to children’s and youth’s physical, mental or moral development” and decided to warn Güney TV.
LESBIAN RELATIONSHIP
Performer Demir Demirkan’s music video “Beyond Love” that aired on Viva TV on 25 November 2013 was also found “erotic” and the TV channel was given a warning fine. The RTÜK Report states that “The dance two women perform in the clip and their half-naked poses in the bed suggest that the women had been making out. The women are also observed to be laying on Demir Demirkan. The lyrics of the song include, “Let’s sin, girl… With your naked waist curled up. In the clip, there are kinds of relationships that society does not accept and regard as improper and there are images of erotic nakedness.”
One member of the higher commission, Ali Öztunç, objected to the warning fines, saying “These kinds of sanctions are transforming RTÜK into a censorship institution. Thinking that a type of dance can disrupt the moral development of a child means turning a blind eye to social media and the Internet. The decision reflects a repressive mindset.”