Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to four-and-a-half years in prison for jailed mountaineer and government critic Nasuh Mahruki over a social media post alleging that officials knowingly allowed a 2016 coup plot to proceed and then used it to change Turkey’s system of government, Turkish Minute reported.
The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in İstanbul charged Mahruki, the founder and former president of the Search and Rescue Association (AKUT), with publicly inciting hatred and hostility through the media.
The indictment, which seeks a sentence of between 18 months and four-and-a-half years, has been sent to the Bakırköy Criminal Court of First Instance for review. The court must accept it before proceedings can begin.
Mahruki has been in pretrial detention since July 17 over the post, which he shared on X ahead of the 10th anniversary of the failed coup of July 15, 2016.
In the post Mahruki alleged that the coup plot had been detected in advance but was deliberately allowed to unfold because it was seen as an opportunity to change Turkey’s system of government.
“July 15 was a coup attempt that was detected in advance but deliberately not prevented, with its controlled launch permitted because it was seen as an opportunity for regime change,” he wrote.
Mahruki also accused the United States of being the main architect of the plot, using a chess metaphor to claim that Washington had sacrificed a bishop to capture a queen, “made Erdoğan king and checkmated the Turkish people.”
The indictment argues that Mahruki portrayed the failed coup, in which 251 civilians and members of the security forces were killed, as a “game” targeting the Turkish nation.
Prosecutors said the post went beyond the limits of freedom of thought and expression. Citing the number of times it was viewed, they claimed it was capable of causing public outrage and posed a “clear and present danger” to public order.
Mahruki acknowledged that the account and post were his but denied any criminal intent, saying he had used a metaphor to criticize the government’s handling of the failed coup.
He claimed that state institutions had received warnings about the plot but failed to act in time, allowing events to unfold with deadly consequences.
“The accusation brought against me cannot be drawn from this post,” he said during questioning, according to Turkish media reports.
Prosecutors initially investigated Mahruki under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes inciting the public to hatred and hostility or degrading a section of society. The indictment charges him with the incitement provision, with the requested sentence increased because the alleged offense was committed through social media.
Turkey experienced a controversial military coup attempt on the night of July 15, 2016. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan immediately accused the Gülen movement, inspired by the late US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, of orchestrating the plot and significantly expanded a crackdown on the movement’s supporters that was already underway. The movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Critics have long questioned whether Erdoğan had prior knowledge of the plot or allowed it to proceed before using it to purge opponents, weaken the military and consolidate his power.
In the aftermath, the government intensified a crackdown on alleged followers of the movement that had begun in late 2013. More than 120,000 public servants were dismissed by emergency decree, while thousands of others were prosecuted and jailed on terrorism-related charges.
Mahruki founded AKUT, a volunteer organization that became nationally prominent for its rescue work after major earthquakes and other disasters. He is also one of Turkey’s best-known mountaineers and a vocal critic of the Erdoğan government.
He was previously arrested in November 2024 over posts accusing Turkey’s election bodies of preparing to undermine electoral security through electronic voting. After spending 14 days in pretrial detention, he was released pending trial in December.
An İstanbul court in February 2025 handed down a suspended 11-month sentence for publicly disseminating misleading information.
