As the condemnations for ‘insulting Turkey’s President Erdogan’ unceasingly continue in Turkey, Cem Özgür Yaman, a member of the Republican People’s Party Youth organization (CHP Youth) of Antalya province, was arrested.
Yaman was arrested by the court for allegedly insulting the President Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the report in daily Gerçek Gündem, Kenan Otlu, the Head of the Republican People’s Party Youth of Istanbul, made a statement on the arrest warrant that ‘Our comrade Ali Gül from the Platform for a Strong Parliament had been arrested. Today, our comrade Cem Özgür Yaman has been arrested for allegedly insulting the President. A political order that is afraid of the youth is doomed to topple down.’’
Arbitrary detentions in Turkey on the charges of ‘insulting the President’ have been frequent under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
A young ‘No’ campaigner for the Constitutional Referendum to be held in March 2017 had been previously arrested after the President Erdogan’s lawyer made a denunciation against him for allegedly insulting the President due to his video recorded and shared on his social media account. A Canadian dual national, Ece Heper, and a Turkish pianist Dengin Ceyhan had been also previously arrested for ‘insulting the president’ due to their posts critical of President Tayyip Erdoğan on social media.
Almost 2,000 legal cases have been opened in Turkey by such accusations since Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the President in August 2014. According to the Turkish Penal Code, ‘insulting’ or mocking the President might be punished by a maximum of four years in jail.
