German-Kurdish singer Hozan Cane in Turkish jail pleads to Merkel for help

Turkey charges the singer with terrorism as Erdogan heads to Berlin this week.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – German-Kurdish singer Saide Inac kept in a Turkish prison has penned a letter to her country’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, asking for help to be freed as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to head to Germany in a state visit this week.

Turkish police arrested Inac whose stage name is Hozan Cane in the Edirne province in late June with accusations of membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based on her songs, activities, and pictures on social media.

Inac was in Turkey to sing at the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) rallies in the run-up to the Turkish general and presidential elections which saw Erdogan emerging victorious.

According to the German Press Agency (DPA), Inac asked Merkel to raise her situation with Erdogan during a planned meeting between the two leaders.

The agency reported on Monday that it had the letter but did not publish it.

In the letter, Inac also complained of health issues she was facing and malnutrition at the Turkish prison.

Her first trial is set to take place on Wednesday, a day before Erdogan’s arrival to Germany at the invitation of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

There are several other Germans held at Turkish prisons since a crackdown on the opposition and Kurds began in the aftermath of the mid-2016 failed coup.

Prosecutors allege Inac of spreading propaganda for the PKK based on a social media post where she poses with alleged Kurdish rebels.

The post in question, according to the Kurdish singer, is a scene from her movie “The 74th Genocide in Sinjar” which she directs and plays the lead role. The film covers the Islamic State’s genocide against the minority group in the Kurdistan Region’s Shingal area.

Inac, 47, was born in Turkey before seeking refuge in Germany in the 1990s. She lives in the western German city of Cologne.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany