Former Miss Turkey, Merve Buyuksarac, Sentenced for Insulting President Erdogan

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By Wayne Parker , Parent Herald Jun 02, 08:25 am

In 2014, Merve Buyuksarac shared on Instagram a satirical poem, which was reckoned defamatory. The post was seen as a blatant insult to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which has led to her conviction by a Turkish court.

A Turkish court gave the 27-year old Merve Buyuksarac a 14-month suspended prison sentence after she was found guilty of insulting the president thru her posts on social media as reported on Time, however Buyuksarac strongly denied the accusation.

The lawyer of Merve Buyuksarac will file a formal objection to the verdict and take her case to a higher court. The decision of the Turkey court gained criticism among human rights groups for backtracking on the freedom of speech.

Since President Erdoğan came to office in 2014, nearly 2,000 Turkish people, which include celebrities and even schoolchildren, have been prosecuted for insulting the president under a previously little-used law as cited on BBC News.

An adaptation of the Turkish national anthem, was posted and shared literally a thousand times on social media. Prosecutors considered it as a grave insult to Mr Erdogan who was then prime minister.

Nevertheless, Buyuksarac's sentence was suspended on terms that she will no longer repeat the offense within the next 5 years. Emre Telci, Buyuksarac's lawyer, told the Associated Press news agency that the insult trials are being initiated in series and are being automatically filed. "Merve was prosecuted for sharing a posting that did not belong to her. My client has been convicted for words that do not belong to her," Telci said.

On the other hand, Hatice Ozay, Mr Erdogan's lawyer, argued that the post went beyond the borders. It strted out to be an objective criticism and catapulted into a grievous attack against Mr Erdogan's personal rights.

Human rights activists had a different take on this issue, saying that Mr Erdogan is obviously using the law to silence and intimidate his critics that include academics, journalists and ordinary citizens.