Istanbul opposition figure in court over 'insulting' Erdogan tweets

[sammuel]

Istanbul opposition figure in court over 'insulting' Erdogan tweets

A leading figure in Istanbul politics has appeared in court over accusations she insulted President Erdogan and the Turkish state online.

Canan Kaftancioglu leads the Istanbul branch of the secular Republican People's Party (CHP).

The opposition group claimed a stunning election victory over Turkey's ruling AK party in Istanbul's mayoral election last weekend.

Ms Kaftancioglu could face up to 17 years in prison.

Hundreds showed up to court to support Ms Kaftancioglu on Friday. Her trial has now been adjourned until 18 July.

What is she accused of?
Canan Kaftancioglu is standing trial over a number of tweets, reportedly dating back up to six years ago.

She is accused of "insulting" President Erdogan and the Turkish state in the posts, as well as allegedly "spreading terror propaganda".

Reports say the alleged comments relate to 2013 anti-government protests and the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK).

As leader of the CHP in Istanbul, Ms Kaftancioglu is seen as having played a significant role in Mr Imamoglu's victory - which ended 25 years of AKP rule in the nation's largest city.

The mayoral election was widely viewed as a referendum on President Erdogan's rule. The leader, who has ruled since 2003 as both prime minister and president, had previously said himself that "whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey".

The hashtag #TurkiyeSeninleCananBaskan (Turkey Stands With You, Chief Canan) trended online as she appeared in court.

The leftist Birgun newspaper quoted Ms Kaftancioglu as saying: "The light of hope in Istanbul has unsettled certain people" as she left the Caglayan courthouse.

 

[CAN_TR]

I have nothing against it, we don't need dumb hardcore feminist LGBT b1tches.

 

[damm1t]

She has no useful input for this country. She admires one of the woman founders of PKK.

I would exile her to Kenya.

 

[CAN_TR]

I seriously do not understand you guys. After all it is your freedom , your human rights.

In a democratic state the president is expected to be heavily criticized. Yet in turkey in the past few years thousands where put on trial for this offence of " insulting " Erdogan .

In 2018 , Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced this practice saying :

"Turkish courts have convicted thousands of people in the past four years simply for speaking out against the president. The government should stop this mockery of human rights and respect people in Turkey's right to peaceful free expression."


In 2016 , a Turkish doctor was fired from his work in health care and was put on trial for comparing Erdogan to Gollum.

Since the judge was not familiar with Tolkien's books or Lord of the rings movies , they had to ( seriously i am not making this up ) appoint " expert " witnesses who had to take time to decide whether comparison to Tolkien's Gullom caricature , should be considered an insult !

The man was found guilty and only later , in 2017 , was acquitted by a higher court.

Those BTW are the three pictures he posted , let the members here judge themselves if posting them should be illegal and if they carry resemblance to the person in question .

I will just add that : respect is something you Earn ! Not something you impose on people ...

~

I don't like Erdogan not even a tiny bit, i also don't like Canan Kaftancioglu why do you share those pictures here?

 

[Turan09]

Canan Kaftancioglu deserves it... She already commited so many crimes against Turkish Nation... I dont care about Erdogan but I hope Kaftancioğlu will pay for her crimes.

 

[Dai Toruko]

I seriously do not understand you guys. After all it is your freedom , your human rights.

In a democratic state the president is expected to be heavily criticized. Yet in turkey in the past few years thousands where put on trial for this offence of " insulting " Erdogan .

In 2018 , Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced this practice saying :

"Turkish courts have convicted thousands of people in the past four years simply for speaking out against the president. The government should stop this mockery of human rights and respect people in Turkey's right to peaceful free expression."


In 2016 , a Turkish doctor was fired from his work in health care and was put on trial for comparing Erdogan to Gollum.

Since the judge was not familiar with Tolkien's books or Lord of the rings movies , they had to ( seriously i am not making this up ) appoint " expert " witnesses who had to take time to decide whether comparison to Tolkien's Gullom caricature , should be considered an insult !

The man was found guilty and only later , in 2017 , was acquitted by a higher court.

Those BTW are the three pictures he posted , let the members here judge themselves if posting them should be illegal and if they carry resemblance to the person in question .

I will just add that : respect is something you Earn ! Not something you impose on people ...

~

 

[Nein]

I seriously do not understand you guys. After all it is your freedom , your human rights.

In a democratic state the president is expected to be heavily criticized. Yet in turkey in the past few years thousands where put on trial for this offence of " insulting " Erdogan .

In 2018 , Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced this practice saying :

"Turkish courts have convicted thousands of people in the past four years simply for speaking out against the president. The government should stop this mockery of human rights and respect people in Turkey's right to peaceful free expression."


In 2016 , a Turkish doctor was fired from his work in health care and was put on trial for comparing Erdogan to Gollum.

Since the judge was not familiar with Tolkien's books or Lord of the rings movies , they had to ( seriously i am not making this up ) appoint " expert " witnesses who had to take time to decide whether comparison to Tolkien's Gullom caricature , should be considered an insult !

The man was found guilty and only later , in 2017 , was acquitted by a higher court.

Those BTW are the three pictures he posted , let the members here judge themselves if posting them should be illegal and if they carry resemblance to the person in question .

I will just add that : respect is something you Earn ! Not something you impose on people ...

~

SHUT THE F UP LIBERAL

 

[sammuel]

I don't like Erdogan not even a tiny bit, i also don't like Canan Kaftancioglu why do you share those pictures here?

Look , it is not just about this woman. It is about whether or not it is ok to arrest people for the ridiculous charge of " insulting " the leader.

Today you may cheer cause you dislike this person but Tomorrow it can be you or one of your friends making a comment on twitter. If you don't mark a clear line that freedom of speech cant not be f*cked with than you can forget about human rights.

I am not familiar with this woman , but if you want to see her arrested you need to prove she did something wrong in a court of law. You cant just arrest people for ridiculous charges.

Turkey already humiliated it's legal system with the American Pastor incident , and this arrests and thousand other like it do little to improve it"t image. Again it is not about this case but about thousand others like it.

I mentioned the Gollum case , because it demonstrate how ridiculous is the misuse of this law , to silence people up has become. I could have ofcourse have brought other examples cause there where a number of cases in which cartoonists where arrested after publishing caricatures criticizing erdogan.

Here is another cartoonists that got arrested , Musa Kart , for this picture :

BTW , arresting this cartoonists is sometimes also not smart , as it is counter productive. Cause only a few people would have seen the Gullom meme , but cause of the trial ,it got a world wide exposure . Maybe the authorities should think about this next time , before they silence people ...

And not the situation in turkey it worse than most middle east countries, actually it is better than most. But also more is expected from turkey as a democracy ...


~

 

[Attila the Hun]

Pissrael haha

 

[sammuel]

I have nothing against it, we don't need dumb hardcore feminist LGBT b1tches.

She has no useful input for this country. She admires one of the woman founders of PKK.


I would exile her to Kenya.

I don't like Erdogan not even a tiny bit, i also don't like Canan Kaftancioglu why do you share those pictures here?

Canan Kaftancioglu deserves it... She already commited so many crimes against Turkish Nation... I dont care about Erdogan but I hope Kaftancioğlu will pay for her crimes.

Pissrael haha

SHUT THE F UP LIBERAL

Let us sum up this discussion so far :

7 people where kind enough to contribute their time and replied. Out of them 5 wrote one line. One managed to put together exactly two words and another submitted a picture where he suggests something about my butt ( don't know why , after all those are his people who are being " fu*ked here , excuse my language )

So let me clear out again the topic of this discussion , since it seems some people took offence and even complained about what I wrote.

It is not about this woman or about a particular caricature.

It is about the fact that people in turkey today need to think twice before they say something about Erdogan. It is not just journalists ,but also regular people who post something in the social media.

We are not talking about a few people , Tens of Thousands of people have been prosecuted in turkey for that offence of " Insulting " Erdogan.

I don't know what is Erdogan's problem , maybe he is just a sensitive guy and is easily offended.

But before he got elected to president , this article 299 of the Turkish penal code that deals with " insulting " the president , was rarely used.


But Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 2014 election :

," there have been 66,691 "insult investigations" launched, resulting in 12,305 trials thus far, and the "numbers are increasing." — Yaman Akdeniz, professor of law, Istanbul Bilgi University. "

You can read about this data here :

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13863/turkey-insulting-erdogan


It is sad that no one here of those who replied took a clear stand against silencing the Turkish people.

I have no connection to turkey simply don't like it when people are denied the basic right of speaking out there mind.



~

 

[Nein]

Let us sum up this discussion so far :

7 people where kind enough to contribute their time and replied. Out of them 7 wrote one line. One managed to out together exactly two words and another submitted a picture where he suggests something about my butt ( don't know why , after all those are his people who are being " fu*ked here , excuse my language )

So let me clear out again the topic of this discussion , since it seems some people took offence and even complained about what I wrote.

It is not about this woman or about a particular caricature.

It is about the fact that people in turkey today need to think twice before they say something about Erdogan. It is not just journalists ,but also regular people who post something in the social media.

We are not talking about a few people , Tens of Thousands of people have been prosecuted in turkey for that offence of " Insulting " Erdogan.

I don't know what is Erdogan's problem , maybe he is just a sensitive guy and is easily offended.

But before he got elected to president , this article 299 of the Turkish penal code that deals with " insulting " the president , was rarely used.


But Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 2014 election :

," there have been 66,691 "insult investigations" launched, resulting in 12,305 trials thus far, and the "numbers are increasing." — Yaman Akdeniz, professor of law, Istanbul Bilgi University. "

You can read about this data here :

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13863/turkey-insulting-erdogan


It is sad that no one here of those who replied took a clear stand against silencing the Turkish people.

I have no connection to turkey simply don't like it when people are denied the basic right of speaking out there mind.



~

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1133501594496933888

SHUT THE F UP LIBERAL

 

[damm1t]

Let us sum up this discussion so far :

7 people where kind enough to contribute their time and replied. Out of them 7 wrote one line. One managed to out together exactly two words and another submitted a picture where he suggests something about my butt ( don't know why , after all those are his people who are being " fu*ked here , excuse my language )

So let me clear out again the topic of this discussion , since it seems some people took offence and even complained about what I wrote.

It is not about this woman or about a particular caricature.

It is about the fact that people in turkey today need to think twice before they say something about Erdogan. It is not just journalists ,but also regular people who post something in the social media.

We are not talking about a few people , Tens of Thousands of people have been prosecuted in turkey for that offence of " Insulting " Erdogan.

I don't know what is Erdogan's problem , maybe he is just a sensitive guy and is easily offended.

But before he got elected to president , this article 299 of the Turkish penal code that deals with " insulting " the president , was rarely used.


But Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's 2014 election :

," there have been 66,691 "insult investigations" launched, resulting in 12,305 trials thus far, and the "numbers are increasing." — Yaman Akdeniz, professor of law, Istanbul Bilgi University. "

You can read about this data here :

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13863/turkey-insulting-erdogan


It is sad that no one here of those who replied took a clear stand against silencing the Turkish people.

I have no connection to turkey simply don't like it when people are denied the basic right of speaking out there mind.



~

A simple question. Would you still consider it freedom of speech if an Israeli political figure praise a terrorist live-bomb who killed dozens of Israeli ?

 

[Timur]

A simple question. Would you still consider it freedom of speech if an Israeli political figure praise a terrorist live-bomb who killed dozens of Israeli ?

you dont need this to say..

they themselves dont have democracy.. its like farting on a public toiled if you do it who cares? someone may just be unamused about the sounds.. it doesnt change much of the bad smell wich is already there..

many of those wannybe free people say many things about turkey.. in some reasons there is a good portion of truth to critisize the wrongdoings but they are more on a mess than our country

ppl think they can bully us around because some big bullies showed up .. let them talk in fart language who cares

 

[sammuel]

A simple question. Would you still consider it freedom of speech if an Israeli political figure praise a terrorist live-bomb who killed dozens of Israeli ?

Simple answer : I would certainly not charge him with " insulting " the president ,
Either charge him with a real existing offence that he has committed like inciting terror or nothing .

You can't just pin on him an offence that has nothing to do with what he did , otherwise you make mockery of the whole legal system. Why not charge him with speeding ? Makes as much sense.

And again it is not about this or that person. It is about the thousand others that are being arrested for no good reason. The gollum caricature example , was just one out of many.

Are you really ok with that ?

they themselves dont have democracy..

Even if things in my country where the same ( which they are not ) . How exactly would it support or justify what is happening in Turkey ?

Also you need some reality check , but don't just take my word for it.

See the freedom in the world report for 2019 . My country is the only one in the middle east which given status is free. Two where defined partly free and the rest : not free. Even Jordan that is a monarchy ranked ahead of you.

See here :

Freedom in the World 2019 Map :

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2019/map

Freedom in the World 2019 Countries :

https://freedomhouse.org/report/countries-world-freedom-2019



~

 

[Timur]

n some reasons there is a good portion of truth to critisize the wrongdoings

Even if things in my country where the same ( which they are not ) . How exactly would it support or justify what is happening in Turkey ?