Two more arrested in Turkey’s southeast for ‘insulting Erdoğan’

ŞANLIURFA – Doğan News Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivers a speech during the mukhtars meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara on November 4, 2015. AFP Photo

Two people in Turkey’s southeastern province of Şanlıurfa have been arrested for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on social media.

The two people, identified only by their initials M.Ş. and F.T., were detained in Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district for sharing posts on social media that included “insults and curses” directed at Erdoğan.

According to the state-run Anadolu Agency, the suspects were also charged with “propagandizing on behalf of terrorist organizations” for sharing posts praising the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

After testifying at the police department, the suspects were sent to court where they were both arrested. 

Since Erdoğan’s election as president last August, his lawyers have filed dozens of cases against alleged “insults” targeting him. 

On Sept. 10, a man identified only as Erhan K. was sentenced to home arrest with electronic handcuffs for insulting Erdoğan in a Facebook post. 

In October, Bülent Keneş, the editor-in-chief of English-language daily Today’s Zaman, was detained on suspicion of insulting Erdoğan in a series of tweets.

On Oct. 21, a schoolboy was detained by police in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri for allegedly “insulting” President Erdoğan, though the boy was released when the court determined that he was only 14.