Criminal case against social media user for calling Erdoğan aide a 'swine'

Photo: AA/File

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A lawsuit has been filed against a social media user for calling Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun a "swine."

Responding to a Twitter post by Altun on April 18, 2020, the defendant, Gökhan Akkaya, wrote, "Which land do you want to buy at a bargain price now, you swine?"

The first hearing of the case will be held at the İstanbul Anadolu 12th Penal Court of First Instance on February 9, 2022.

"Offending the honor"

The indictment prepared by Prosecutor Abdülaziz Taş on September 8 seeks a sentence for "offending one's honor, dignity or prestige" as per article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code.

"Our client is in the position of the aggrieved in the criminal case that has been opened by your court. An obligation for our intervention has arisen for protecting our rights. Our complaint against the defendant continues," the attorneys stated.Submitting a petition to the court, Altun's attorneys requested to intervene in the case.

"It was a joke"

In his statement, Akkaya said the Twitter account in question was his, he shared the post in question and the post did not include an insult and was intended to make a joke.

The prosecutor, however, charged Akkaya with insult, noting that a reconciliation was not achieved between the two parties.

About Fahrettin Altun

The Presidency Communications Director since July 25, 2018.

Altun was born in 1976 in Stuttgart, Germany. He graduated from İstanbul University Department of Sociology in 1998. He completed his master's degree at Mimar Sinan University's Department of Sociology, and his doctorate at İstanbul University in 2006 with a thesis entitled "Comparative Analysis of McLuhan and Baudrillard's Media Theories".

He took part in the founding academic board of İstanbul Şehir University and was the founding coordinator of the Faculty of Communication. He headed the university's Department of Communication between 2008 and 2014.

Between 2014 and 2018, he worked for the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), a pro-government think tank, as the deputy general coordinator and then the general coordinator.

He was also the dean of the Faculty of Communication of İbn Haldun University.

He worked as a pundit for the state-run broadcaster TRT and wrote a column in the pro-government daily Akşam.

About the claims that he was receiving salaries from five different state institutions, he said his only other salary than that of the head of the Communications Directorate is the attendance fee he receives as a board member of Borsa İstanbul Stock Exchange.

*Turkish Penal Code Article 125 (1): Any person who attributes an act, or fact, to a person in a manner that may impugn that person's honor, dignity or prestige, or attacks someone's honor, dignity or prestige by swearing shall be sentenced to a penalty of imprisonment for a term of three months to two years or a judicial fine. To be culpable for an insult made in the absence of the victim, the act should be committed in the presence of at least three further people.

(AS/VK)