Erdogan silences his critics with humiliating laws

TV journalist Sedik Kabas has been detained since January on suspicion of insulting Erdogan.

Among other things, her comment in the broadcast that “the bull does not become a king because it enters the palace, but the palace becomes a barn” is considered a disgrace to the president. She was arrested after repeating herself in front of her 900,000 followers on Twitter.

Cabas, whose trial began in March, now faces twelve years and ten months in prison. Erdogan also wants the equivalent of 170,000 Swedish kronor as compensation.

tools of oppression

Reporters Without Borders and about 30 other organizations involved in freedom of expression are calling for Kaba’s release.

The anti-democratic heinous crimes law has become a tool of repression and it illustrates the authoritarian policy of the government, says Erol Onderoglu, RSF Turkey representative.

Since Kapas’ arrest, a number of other people have been arrested, including former elite swimmer and Olympic participant Derya Buyukoncu who joked about Erdogan on Twitter.

use increased

The law prohibiting insulting the presidency was instituted in 2005 by Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party.

Use in the country – which goes to the polls next summer – has increased in recent years. More than 31,000 people were charged with the crime in 2020 and 36,000 in 2019, according to official statistics. 2010 was the same as number four.

Sompel Kaya, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Research at the Military School in Paris, sees the law as a way for the government to weaken the rule of law and attack ordinary citizens. She believes that it is mainly about protecting Erdogan’s person.

– Take the swimmer as an example, President Erdogan claimed that it was the office that was attacked, but in fact he meant him as an individual, she said.

– We are moving from protecting the presidency to protecting the individual.

Shot Editor

Turkey has been repeatedly criticized for undermining press freedom and media critical of the government, a development that escalated after the failed coup attempt against Erdogan in July 2016.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey 153 out of 180 in its Press Freedom Index.

Most recently, the editor-in-chief of a local newspaper in Kocaeli in northwestern Turkey was shot dead outside the newsroom. Swings Arslan, who was also previously assassinated, had in the newspaper’s latest issue accused the mayor, an AKP politician, of corruption. The police arrested the suspect and did not give his name.