The atmosphere was exuberant on September 6, when six young women in tight outfits took to the stage in Istanbul's sold-out open-air venue Kucukciftlik Park. A cheer went up from the crowd of 12,000 people who had joined in the dancing to the beat in the late summer heat.

The musicians — Mina, Esin, Zeynep Sude, Emine Hilal, Lidya and Sueda — are the members of Turkish girl band Manifest, which was formed in February following a talent show.

With their simple youthful lyrics and K-pop-inspired dance routines, Manifest has quickly captured the hearts of teenagers. The band's debut album, released in July, led to a successful tour.

After the Istanbul concert, however, the band's promising future seems to now be a thing of the past. The public prosecutor's office is investigating them for "indecent and immoral acts" and "exhibitionism," with the stage show said to have "violated and offended the feelings of shame, morality and the moral values of society." In addition, it's claimed the women have a bad influence on children and young people.

Targeting female artists

Oktay Saral, chief adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called the band members "immoral, shameless, demonic creatures" in a Turkish post on X and demanded legal action to prevent them from "further alleged exhibitionist acts." He posted a photo of the group with their bodies blurred out.

After an interrogation, the band issued a statement emphasizing that they took responsibility for their show, but that it had never been their intention to hurt anyone. For the time being, they have had to give up their dream of representing Turkey on the world stage.

On X, they wrote that their Turkey tour, for which tickets sold out weeks ago, has been canceled. "We thank our audience for their interest and love."

The case of Manifest is not an isolated incident. Female artists have increasingly been targeted by the justice system in recent years.

Pop diva Sezen Aksu became the target of smear campaigns over an old song with lyrics that apparently offended religious sensibilities.

Popular musician Gulsen was arrested for a joke she made on stage about religious schools.

In January, Ayse Barim, the manager of an artist agency, was first imprisoned for attempted monopolization and extortion, and later accused of trying to help overthrow the government during the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

Screenwriter Merve Oktem was arrested after an excerpt from a four-year-old interview about her series "Naked" went viral on social media. She is accused of "supporting prostitution and inciting crime."

Religious authority Diyanet plays a 'decisive role'

Since Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul convention on violence against women in 2021, pressure on women has mounted significantly. Initially, female politicians, academics and activists were targeted, followed by journalists and lawyers. In recent years, female artists have increasingly been affected.

The approach is often the same. First, pro-government columnists write critical articles; then, old interviews or excerpts from works are taken out of context and disseminated on social media. Finally, pro-government groups and Islamist brotherhoods mobilize and call on the authorities to take action until the police arrest the targeted person.

Historian and feminist Berrin Sonmez called this a political strategy. In her opinion, the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has turned religion into the basis of its government policy over the past 10 years in order to secure its own power. She believes the country is now in a phase where religion is not the basis of politics, but is constantly being exploited for political purposes.

"The religious authority Diyanet has a decisive role to play in this," said Sonmez. Through its Friday sermons, Diyanet, which is also called the Presidency of Religious Affairs, publishes weekly fatwas, which are nonbinding but still formal opinions, intended to shape the society according to its will.

Sonmez analyzed last year's sermons: 30% of the texts dealt with women, family, and children, while another 30% dealt with sexual orientation, which was portrayed as a "deviation from human nature” and the "result of global propaganda."

Government silencing dissent

Sonmez, a devout Muslim, took off her headscarf to protest a Diyanet sermon in August on the veiling of women. She considers this development very dangerous, as Diyanet addresses millions of men every Friday in its more than 90,000 mosques nationwide. In such fatwas, the government is essentially calling on men to oppress women and strengthen male dominance.

The effects are noticeable, observers have said. Shortly after the sermon in question, reactions made headlines, including one in which a doctor refused to treat a young female patient because she appeared at the hospital wearing a crop top.

Sonmez said the increasing oppression of women was part of a comprehensive government plan to silence dissent. The dwindling AKP base is being stabilized through increased religious pressure and legal harassment of dissenters, she said.

She said the attack on the Manifest group was a further message to women who refuse to comply. Even though the artists' revealing clothing and dance performances are in the foreground, Sonmez believes it is crucial that these young musicians chanted opposition slogans such as "law, justice and equality” in their songs.

Yet the public prosecutor's office deliberately limited the charges to obscenity, immorality and exhibitionism in order not only to intimidate the women but also to defame them. Their political stance was ignored, and the debate was reduced to their bodies, shame and morality.

AKP has claimed for years that it has liberated women, especially conservative and religious ones, and opened doors wide for them in education, politics and beyond. Sonmez disagrees, and argues that even though the proportion of women in many areas has increased, this is only an illusion.

Essentially, even in the AKP era, women are still relegated to the background and have little influence on policymaking, she said. Women, she said, can only exist as unwavering supporters of government policy.

This article was originally written in German.