Turkish prosecutors opened 115,516 investigations into the alleged insult of public officials in 2024, resulting in 14,458 convictions and 17,593 suspended sentences, Turkish Minute reported, citing justice ministry data disclosed in parliament this week.
In total, Turkey launched 1,166,583 criminal insult investigations in 2024 across all categories.
Under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, “insult” is a criminal offense that covers words and gestures that courts view as damaging a person’s honor or dignity. The law qualifies insults targeting civil servants and sets higher penalties when the insult targets an official in connection with their duty or refers to religious or political beliefs.
Deputy Justice Minister Niyazi Acar revealed the figures during discussions on the government’s 11th Judicial Reform Package, responding to a question from Turan Taşkın Özer, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), about investigations and prosecutions related to insulting public officials.
The data show 632,078 cases tied to in-person speech and 534,505 linked to online posts, which Article 125 qualifies differently.
Of the 632,078 in-person insult investigations, 231,657 resulted in criminal charges, leading to 37,783 convictions, 39,384 suspended sentences and 40,911 acquittals.
For insults related to social media, prosecutors opened 534,505 investigations, of which 60,276 led to charges. Courts issued 11,161 convictions and 10,088 suspended sentences.
Opposition criticizes ministry for withholding data
Özer criticized the justice ministry for previously refusing to release the same statistics in response to formal parliamentary questions, saying the ministry had repeatedly claimed that such data did not exist.
“You have this data, and we have submitted parliamentary questions multiple times, but we never receive it,” Özer said. “Now you are presenting it so nicely here. Why do you not give us this information in writing in detail?”
He added that the ministry had previously told lawmakers there were “no statistics” and that it “does not keep any statistics” on insult cases. Acar responded that he believed the data had been published but would verify the matter.
Cases involving religious and political expression
The ministry also released figures on insult cases involving religious or political beliefs. Prosecutors opened 2,713 in-person investigations for insults targeting individuals’ religious or political views. Only 106 cases went to trial, resulting in 13 convictions.
Insults directed at religious values led to around 2,000 investigations, with courts convicting 364 defendants. In these cases prosecutors charged individuals with insulting a person by reference to values seen as sacred in that person’s religion, a qualified form of Article 125 that also carries a higher minimum sentence.
Turkey’s criminal insult provisions have attracted criticism from press freedom and human rights groups, which argue that they are used against journalists, activists and ordinary citizens who criticize government officials.
