Investigation launched into Turkish director for ‘insulting president’

ANKARA

An investigation has been launched into Turkish director Mustafa Altıoklar for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and “inciting the public to hatred and enmity,” due to his social media posts on the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in 1453.

Altıoklar had mocked the massive state-sponsored celebrations marking the 563rd anniversary of the conquest, which took place with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, and an estimated 1 million spectators, at the city’s Yenikapı Square on May 29. 

“You don’t know that it was Mustafa Kemal [the Turkish Republic’s founding father] who actually saved Istanbul, which your Ottoman ancestors delivered to the crusaders while begging,” wrote Altıoklar on his Twitter account, likening those celebrating the conquest to “cancer.” 

The investigation into the director’s tweets was launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on May 31.

Commemorations of Istanbul’s conquest by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (“Mehmed the Conqueror”) took place on May 29 this year, after steadily growing in prominence in recent years.