Omar Souleyman’s Manager Denies Terrorism Charges After Singer’s Release

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Syrian singer Omar Souleyman was released from a Turkish police station on Friday (Nov. 19) after being detained by police earlier this week on the suspicion that he was collaborating with a terrorist organization.

On Wednesday (Nov. 17) Souleyman was arrested in his home in Sanliurfa, Turkey (in the southeastern part for the country) where he’s resided since 2012, not long after the start of the Syrian civil war.

The arrest came after a tip-off that Souleyman, 55, was a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK — a Kurdish militant political organization that’s regarded as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the EU — and that he was collaborating with this group.

Souleyman’s manager Mina Tosti tells Billboard that this incident occurred after a trip Souleyman recently took to his native Syria. “He absolutely is not a member of any political party, PKK included,” says Tosti, who adds that the police were “for sure” acting on a tip-off intended to frame Souleyman as a member of organization.

After being arrested in his home this past Wednesday, Souleyman was taken to a local hospital for a health check-up. “It was a simple and non-violent detention,” says Tosti, “police having come to his home and then [taking] him to a health check-up at the nearby hospital.” Tosti adds that such a health check is standard in Turkey, “so in case one is in some way injured or mistreated during detention, that there is comparison available.”
Souleyman did not retain a lawyer while being detained. Tosti notes that this incident “came out of nowhere” but adds that a similar incident occurred in 2019, although Souleyman was not taken to a hospital at that time.
After working as a wedding singer in Syrian, Souleyman rose to global fame in the early 2010s, working with artists including Bjork, Diplo, Four Tet and Caribou and performing at major festivals like Glastonbury and Bonnaroo.