According to reports, Olcay was given the sentence after she changed the lyrics to the song, "Boş Vermişim Dünyayı" to say: "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it's all empty, it's all a lie. Life will end one day and you'll say ‘I had a dream.'"
On top of the lyrical change, the 60-year-old performer also made a hand gesture to accompany the portion of the song, which was deemed insulting.
A post shared by Zuhal Olcay (@zuhalolcay_) on Feb 21, 2018 at 11:24am PST
Olcay later stated in her testimony that she had only used Erdogan's name because it fit into the song and had no "ulterior or insulting motive" whatsoever, Reuters reported. As for the hand gesture, the singer admitted that it was directed at person in the audience.
Prosecutors involved in the case were initially trying to give the singer a four-year sentence, which is the max a resident can get for insulting the president of Turkey, the Hurriyet reported.
This, however, was not the first time that Olcay got in trouble with the law. In 2010, Olcay was fined $2,708 for "insulting a public servant."