Turkish prosecutors have imposed a travel ban on pop singer and songwriter Mabel Matiz as part of an obscenity investigation into one of his songs, Turkish Minute reported, citing the Bianet news website.
Matiz, who gave a statement at the İstanbul courthouse on Monday, was released under judicial supervision but barred from leaving the country. The restriction puts three international concerts he had scheduled in the coming days at risk.
The 40-year-old gay singer is being investigated over his latest track, titled “Perperişan” (Devastated), in which he alludes to his attraction from afar to a young man.
On Monday Matiz was questioned at the cybercrimes bureau under police escort but did not make a public statement afterward.
Last week access to the song was blocked on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music upon a demand from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, while the interior ministry filed a criminal complaint against the singer on accusations of violation of Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes the dissemination, distribution or publication of “obscene” content — an offense that carries a jail sentence of between six months and two years.
Matiz’s lawyer, Hüseyin Ersöz, described the judicial supervision measures imposed on the singer as unlawful, saying that works of artistic or literary value should not be subject to criminal investigation under Turkish law.
“You may not like a work of art, but if you turn it into the subject of a criminal probe, you infringe on freedom of expression,” he wrote on X.
Ersöz also criticized what he called the disproportionate restrictions placed on his client, saying a travel ban had been imposed even before Matiz was questioned. He argued that the case amounted to a violation of personal freedom and undermined public trust in the judiciary.
In a post on X last week, Matiz — whose YouTube channel has nearly 1,000,000 subscribers — said his lyrics were being “deliberately twisted,” insisting it was a song that drew on the tradition of Turkish folk literature that “tells a love story through metaphors.”
It is not uncommon to find frequent sexual references in traditional Turkish folk songs.
“I want to believe that public order and our collective well-being are not so fragile as to be disrupted by a mere song,” he wrote.
