An İstanbul court on Friday acquitted Turkish pop singer and songwriter Mabel Matiz of obscenity charges over the lyrics of one of his songs, ruling that the legal elements of the alleged offense had not been established, the Anka news agency reported.
Matiz, 40, whose real name is Fatih Karaca, had been on trial at the İstanbul 54th Criminal Court of First Instance on charges of publishing obscene content, an offense punishable by six months to three years in prison under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code.
The case concerned the lyrics of “Perperişan (Devastated),” which prosecutors claimed contained obscene descriptions and had been made available on digital platforms accessible to children.
At a previous hearing the prosecutor claimed that the song included “bodily and emotional metaphors” with sexual connotations and requested that Matiz be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
A lawyer representing the Ministry of Family and Social Services, which was involved in the proceedings, had also claimed that the lyrics contained sexual references and violated public decency, calling for the singer’s conviction.
The court rejected the accusations on Friday, saying the elements of the crime had not been established.
The case began last year after the Ministry of Family and Social Services sought restrictions on access to the song, alleging that it violated public morals, while the Interior Ministry filed a criminal complaint.
A court later blocked access to the track on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music, although the platforms did not remove it entirely.
Matiz, who is openly gay and has built a wide following in Turkey’s pop music scene since the early 2010s, denied the accusations. He said his song draws on the tradition of Turkish folk literature, using metaphors to tell a love story.
“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 on his social media accounts at the time.
His lawyer, Hüseyin Ersöz, criticized the indictment and restrictions imposed on the singer as unlawful, arguing that artistic and literary works are protected 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,” Ersöz wrote on X.
The acquittal comes shortly after members of the Turkish music group Manifest were each sentenced to almost four months in prison in December on charges of “indecent behavior” following a concert they gave at İstanbul’s Küçükçiftlik Park in September.
The sentences were suspended by the court.