Turkish trans diva Bülent Ersoy's song broadcast from mosques in western İzmir

Unknown persons in Turkey have hacked mosques' digital audio systems in the Aegean province of İzmir and played trans diva Bülent Ersoy's song named “I cannot see your face.” Authorities have announced that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Duvar English

Hackers broke into the sound system of two mosques in the western province of İzmir to play a song by Turkish trans diva Bülent Ersoy.

The song named “I cannot see your face” (“Yüzünü Göremem” in Turkish) was broadcast for 50 seconds from the mosques' minarets. The incident occurred at around 10 p.m. on May 25 in the Ayrancılar neighborhood of Torbalı district. A video showing the incident was widely shared on social media.

The Torbalı Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the incident.

A similar incident had occured back on May 20, 2020 when the Italian resistance song “Bella Ciao” was broadcast simultaneously from several mosques again İzmir. Just a day later on May 21, 2020, unidentified hackers this time sabotaged some mosques in Bornova and Bayraklı districts and played folk singer Selda Bağcan's song “Yuh Yuh” (Boo Boo!) through the minarets. The authorities had at the time temporarily put the central adhan (Muslim call to prayer) system on hold.