Ten people were detained on Monday morning in Ankara as part of an operation into social media launched by the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office, the T24 news website reported.
According to the report, Evren Çevik, foreign relations bureau member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), is among the detainees, who were accused of disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization.
The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that 173 people were investigated over social media messages last week.
“State employees in Turkey have been forced to participate in an incrimination of their own freedom of thought and expression. State authorities, as employers, have demanded that their employees report their own and their whole family’s passwords to all of their social media accounts. Holding back information could lead to imprisonment,” reported by Swedish media outlet Arbetet.
Scores of people in Turkey have been detained or arrested or are under investigation on allegations of insulting Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over their social media posts. As of the end of 2016, at least 10,000 people were under investigation on suspicion of terrorist propaganda and insulting senior state officials on social media.
A total of 1,080 people were convicted of insulting Erdoğan in 2016, according to data from Turkey’s Justice Ministry. Data also showed that 4,936 cases were launched against people on charges of insult in 2016. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
