'Words are our weapon': the blistering power of Turkish protest rap

Amid conflict in Syria, stifled free speech and oppressive machismo, rappers in Turkey are speaking out to hold their country - and themselves - to account

Pop culture is usually a comfortable distraction, but sometimes it can wake you up. Take the Turkish rap epic Susamam, which translates as I Can't Stay Silent: a 14-verse manifesto for a generation fed up with complicity, and the largest collaboration in the history of Turkish rap. For a quarter of an hour, 19 artists challenge a litany of social issues, ranging from domestic violence to animal rights and police brutality. It got 20m hits on YouTube in the first week alone.

What makes the track even more impressive is the climate in which it was born: Turkey's record on freedom of expression has taken an abysmal turn in recent years. Turkey is now the top jailer of journalists worldwide, and tens of thousands have been imprisoned in political witch-hunts that followed a failed military coup in 2016. With the nation now in active conflict in neighbouring Syria, it is common to see daily news reports of people jailed for something as simple as social media posts - even posting messages opposing war is considered support for terrorism.