Conservative NGO slams rocker lyrics
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 16, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - A political song by the popular rock band Duman has been criticized by some conservative non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, in the southern tourism center of Antalya, where the band is set to perform May 18.
The NGOs, headed by the Islamist Anatolia Youth Association, or AGD, have initiated a campaign called "Don’t let Duman come to Antalya" to keep the band from playing there in support of its new album.
The song that has sparked the controversy, "Rezil" ("Disgraceful"), deals with corruption in society and people’s silence against it. One line in the song, adapted from a verse in the Koran, says that people sometimes use religion for personal gain.
"We can criticize the use of religion for one’s benefit, but this should not be done by using sacred values. We are against the mocking of religion," Ersan Bilgin, the head of the Antalya branch of the AGD, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "We say ’stop’ to this, both humanely and from the Islamic side. That is why we initiated this campaign."
The band’s critics have demanded that Duman either cancel its Antalya concert or refrain from singing that song onstage in the city and remove it from the new album entirely.
The song that has sparked the controversy, "Rezil" ("Disgraceful"), deals with corruption in society and people’s silence against it. One line in the song, adapted from a verse in the Koran, says that people sometimes use religion for personal gain.
"We can criticize the use of religion for one’s benefit, but this should not be done by using sacred values. We are against the mocking of religion," Ersan Bilgin, the head of the Antalya branch of the AGD, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "We say ’stop’ to this, both humanely and from the Islamic side. That is why we initiated this campaign."
The band’s critics have demanded that Duman either cancel its Antalya concert or refrain from singing that song onstage in the city and remove it from the new album entirely.