The Istanbul court sentenced model Merve Buyuksarac, 27, to one year and two months for “publicly insulting” President Erdogan in a satirical poem she posted on her Instagram account, the Dogan news agency reported. The punishment has been suspended, it added, without giving further details.
The “Master’s Poem” which was shared by the model while President Erdogan was serving as prime minister — criticizes the Turkish strongman with verses adapted from the national anthem.
President Erdogan, who was elected president in August 2014 after serving as prime minister for more than a decade, is often called “Buyuk Usta” (the Big Master).
Hatice Ozay, Erdogan’s lawyer, told the court that the model’s post could not be considered criticism of the president — which would be legal — but rather an insult, or an “attack against my client’s personal rights”.
The state-run Anatolia news agency said Buyuksarac was not present at the hearing.
Her lawyer, Ali Deniz Ceylan, told the court the beauty queen’s comments should be interpreted as legitimate political criticism.
“We believe that the expressions shared by my client should be considered politically. Therefore, we are demanding that she is acquitted.”
‘Guys! I’m not in jail!’
Buyuksarac won the Miss Turkey competition in 2006 and has since worked as a model as well as appearing on reality TV shows.
After being briefly detained in January 2015, she admitted to sharing the poem which had been printed in a Turkish satirical magazine, but said she did not want to insult the president.
Seeking to play down panic among fans that she was about to actually spend time behind bars, Buyuksarac sought to reassure her supporters.
“Guys! I am not in jail; no panic The execution of the conviction has been suspended. I am writing for the benefit of those who only read the headlines of the news,” she wrote on Twitter to her fretful fan base.
A string of journalists as well as ordinary citizens have ended up in court for insulting or slandering President Erdogan, who is accused by critics of being increasingly authoritarian.
The number of cases has swelled after Erdogan moved to the presidency.
The offence of insulting a state official has long existed, but his predecessors rarely made use of it.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said in March that almost 2,000 people in Turkey have been prosecuted for insulting Erdogan since he became president.
With just a handful of exceptions, almost all cases where a conviction was handed out have ended in suspended sentences.
Critics accuse President Erdogan of being excessively sensitive to criticism and Ankara has also pressured Berlin to prosecute a German comedian who recited a poem satirizing President Erdogan in vulgar language.
But the Turkish authorities reject claims they are clamping down on free speech, saying there is a line between fair criticism and slander.
Ironically, Erdogan was himself sent to jail in 1999 for reciting, while mayor of Istanbul, a nationalist and Islamist-tinged poem that the authorities of the time said incited religious hatred.
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