• IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here.

    The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.

Former Turkish beauty queen faces jail for reposting poem 'insulting' president Erdog

Mirage

Alfrescian
Loyal

Former Turkish beauty queen faces jail for reposting poem 'insulting' president Erdogan

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 26 February, 2015, 5:26pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 26 February, 2015, 5:26pm

Associated Press in Ankara

merve.jpeg


Merve Buyuksarac, pictured on her Twitter page. The 2006 Miss Turkey, who was briefly detained last month, told an Istanbul court that she did not intend to insult the president.

A former Miss Turkey beauty queen faces up to 4.5 years in prison on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the latest in a growing number of such cases, reports said yesterday.

Turkish prosecutors said an investigation had been launched against model Merve Buyuksarac after Erdogan’s lawyer lodged a complaint in November last year against a satirical poem taken from a magazine and posted on her Instagram site, state news agency Anatolia reported.

The prosectors stated the charges carry a maximum penalty of 4.5 years behind bars.

The 2006 Miss Turkey, who was briefly detained last month, told an Istanbul court that she did not intend to insult the president.

In her testimony, Buyuksarac said she may have quoted a poem called the Master’s Poem from weekly Turkish satirical magazine Uykusuz.

But the 26-year-old said she later deleted it after one of her friends warned her that such posts could bring criminal charges in Turkey.

The “Master’s Poem”, which was shared by the model while Erdogan was serving as prime minister, criticises the Turkish strongman with verses adapted from the national anthem.

Erdogan, who was elected president in August after steering the country as prime minister since 2003, is often dubbed “Buyuk Usta” (Big Master).

“I did not make the adaptation. I shared it because I found it funny,” she said.

Prosecutors said the posts could not be considered “in the context of freedom of expression” and were guilty of “exceeding the boundaries of criticism” and “overtly humiliating” the president.

erdogan_afp.jpg


The “Master’s Poem”, which was shared by the model while ;eader Tayyip Erdogan (above) was serving as prime minister, criticises the Turkish strongman with verses adapted from the national anthem. Photo: AFP

The court is due to decide whether to start full legal proceedings and a trial.

Erdogan, then mayor of Istanbul, was himself imprisoned for four months in the late 1990s for reciting an Islamist poem that was deemed an incitement to religious hatred.

But after consolidating his power in Turkish politics, he has repeated the verses again and again.

In a statement posted on her Twitter account, Buyuksarac said “if there will ever be a trial” it would be on charges of “insulting a public official.”

She also appeared to defend her conduct.

“If you google the poem I shared (the one that does not include any insult), you will see 960,000 more people shared it... it’s interesting, isn’t it?”

The case is the latest in a string of recent incidents in European Union hopeful Turkey, where protesters as well as journalists have found themselves facing criminal lawsuits or jail time after being accused of insulting or slandering Erdogan.

In a case that attracted wide attention, teenage schoolboy Mehmet Emin Altunses will go on trial on March 6 on charges of insulting the president in a speech in the conservative Anatolian city of Konya.

Four young people were arrested in four days last week on different charges of insulting the Turkish strongman during street protests this month.

Erdogan has long been accused by critics of being increasingly authoritarian and intolerant of criticism.

In the past, he sued a newspaper cartoonist for portraying him as a cat entangled in a ball of wool.


 
Top