“He has a coronavirus and he asked us to pray. Do not worry, I pray. And I have already started making 20 pots of halva. When the time comes, I will distribute them throughout the neighborhood … “With these words, Turkish swimming champion Deria Buyukuncu commented on President Erdogan’s illness on Twitter. The 46-year-old veteran has made history at the Olympics, as he is the only swimmer (along with Sweden’s Lars Frolander) to have competed in six consecutive events, most recently at the age of 36, at the London Olympics in 2012.
However, sporting discrimination did not protect Buyukuncu from the clutches of law enforcement authorities in Turkey. The prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant against the champion for “insulting” Erdogan. He considers that the tweet written by the Turkish champion is “criminal” and the wording he uses shows that he indirectly wishes for the death of the president. All this for … halva? What is certain is that the traditional Anatolian dessert, made from flour or semolina, butter and honey and served with caramelized walnuts or pine nuts, is a common dish at every festive table, but also at every funeral …
Where does freedom of opinion end?
Suppose it was indeed an indirect comment on Erdogan’s health. Is it an insult or is it guaranteed by “freedom of opinion”? Many judges in Turkey are being asked to answer the question. The official announcements about the president’s illness, last Saturday, caused a lot of comments, not only support, but also applause sometimes. In 36 cases, prosecutors in Istanbul and Ankara decided to conduct an investigation. Four “suspects” have already been arrested. Four others are wanted, including veteran swimmer Buyukuncu, who may face other sanctions. The Turkish swimming federation has already imposed a “lifelong ban” on him.
In 2020 alone, according to the Turkish Ministry of Justice, more than 31,000 Turks faced the charge of “insulting” Tayyip Erdogan. Since Erdogan’s election in 2014, the number of lawsuits has exceeded 160,000. Nearly 39,000 people have been called to account. According to Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor at Bilgi University in Istanbul, 13,000 of the accused have been convicted – 3,600 taken to prison – while another 5,500 have been acquitted. For the rest of the cases there are not even official data. More than 100 defendants, Akdeniz told DW, had not turned 18 when they were convicted. Another 24 were between 12 and 14 years old at the time of the crime.
No exceptions, no leniency
In Turkey, the law punished the “insult of the president” even before Tayyip Erdogan rose to the top post. However, no one before Erdogan has resorted to the penal code so often, says in a report MP Baker Karatsa from the opposition CHP. It is indicative that in the total 21 years that lasted the terms of three of Erdogan’s predecessors (Gul, Sezer and Demirel) this provision was activated in a total of 1,169 cases. Politicians, artists, scientists, students, housewives, street vendors or journalists – no one is excluded from the category of “insulting” the president, which can lead to behaviors of any kind.
Two weeks ago, the “tweezers” of the law caught the popular journalist and presenter Sedef Kampas, who had dared to criticize the violent repression of the opposition and the polarization brought to Turkish society by the ruling AKP party, quoting a traditional proverb. from the province of Cherkessia: “The ox that enters the palace does not become king, it is the palace that becomes a stable”. Although Kampas does not mention specific names of politicians, he has since been in prison, accused of “insulting” the president.
For a human rights activist like Professor Akdeniz, this is an “absurd” accusation. He cites another example: In 2015, the news website Diken published an article featuring cartoons of Erdogan in Germany. The then editor-in-chief of the website faced accusations of “insulting” the president and was acquitted, but a little later other judges asked for the case to be reopened on the grounds that it was not “art”. This is because in these sketches, Erdogan is not portrayed as an opponent of terrorists, but as their collaborator. Akdeniz considers it a pure attempt at intimidation, aimed at silencing any voice of political criticism. “Anyone involved in politics must be able to accept harsh criticism,” he said.
And German nationals in the chair
The accusations of “insulting” the president do not only concern those who have exclusively Turkish citizenship. People with dual Turkish and German citizenship have also been targeted. In some cases they are not even allowed to enter the country and are sent to their second homeland with a permanent entry ban. They are sometimes arrested in Turkey itself and then banned from leaving the country. In 2016, the case of German presenter and comedian Jan Bemermann, who has nothing to do with Turkey, caused a stir, but that did not stop Erdogan’s lawyers from filing a lawsuit against him in German courts for “insulting the president”.
Deutsche Welle
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