Turkish singer sentenced over joke on religious schools

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court has given pop singer Gulsen a 10-month suspended sentence after convicting her of “inciting hatred and enmity” over a joke about Turkey’s religious schools. The singer-song writer was briefly jailed last year and later spent 15 days under house arrest for the joke she made during a concert. The court on Wednesday initially sentenced her to one year in prison but later reduced it, citing her “respectful stance” during the trial. Gulsen had denied accusations that her comments amounted to incitement to hatred. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and many members of his Islam-based ruling party are graduates of religious schools called Imam Hatip, which were originally established to train imams.