Turkish band may sing blues

As punk rock goes, a song bemoaning a high school exam hardly sounds like the stuff of anarchy. But in Turkey it can land you in court, as an Istanbul rock band has discovered.

All the song does is lash out against Turkey’s equivalent of the SAT, the exam that all Turkish high-schoolers must pass to have a shot at getting into college. High-schoolers the world over may sympathize, but to Turkish prosecutors it’s an insult to the state and its employees.

The five-man group called Deli, or “Crazy,” along with their manager and a former band member, will go on trial Thursday in the Turkish capital, Ankara. If convicted, they face up to 18 months in jail, although they could get off with a fine or a warning.

The controversy is typical of the extremes endured by a country historically torn between cultures -- Islam and secularism, Europe and Asia, democracy and military dictatorship, and a reverence for institutions of state that frequently collides with basic civil liberties.