Turkish Journalist Jailed for Insulting Erdogan
A Turkish journalist has been jailed and will go on trial for insulting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to reports citing CNN Turk. The well-known journalist Sedef Kabas was arrested early on Saturday morning and a judge at the main courthouse in Istanbul ruled in favor of a formal arrest. Kabas cited a proverb both on Twitter and in an interview on an opposition television channel meant to insult the president.
“There is a very famous proverb that says that a crowned head becomes wiser. But we see it is not true,” she said in the interview, and later tweeted. “A bull does not become king just by entering the palace, but the palace becomes a barn.”
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
In a court statement on Saturday Kabas denied intending to insult the president.
The law in Turkey on insulting the president carries a jail sentence of a minimum of one year and up to four years. Thousands of Turks have been charged and sentenced for insulting Erdogan in his seven years as president.
Erdogan chief spokesman Fahrettin Altun called Kabas’ comments “irresponsible” and said in a tweet that: “A so-called journalist is blatantly insulting our president on a television channel that has no goal other than spreading hatred.”
Merdan Yanardag, chief editor of Tele 1 channel, where Kabas made the comment, said the arrest “is an attempt to intimidate journalists, the media and society.”
