A Turkish prosecutor has sought a prison sentence of up to four years for veteran journalist Zafer Arapkirli on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a social media post, the Medyascope news website reported.
The prosecutor argued at the second hearing before the İstanbul 60th First Criminal Court that Arapkirli’s post went beyond acceptable criticism and amounted to a personal insult, claiming it fell outside the scope of protections for freedom of expression.
The investigation was launched after pro-government journalist Cem Küçük accused Arapkirli of insulting the president and publicly called on police and judicial authorities to take action against him.
Arapkirli’s post read: “You are a very bad scriptwriter. You always were,” a standalone remark that did not mention President Erdoğan or any other individual by name.
During the first hearing Arapkirli said his comment could not constitute a criminal insult regardless of its target, describing the case as a politically motivated attempt to silence a critical journalist.
The next hearing is scheduled for March 3.
Arapkirli has previously been convicted on insult charges over his social media criticism of former interior minister Süleyman Soylu and former commander of the Turkish gendarmerie Arif Çetin.
In Turkey thousands of people are investigated, prosecuted or convicted on charges of insulting the president on the basis of the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which criminalizes “insulting the president.” The crime carries up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased by one-sixth if the act is committed publicly.
The authorities frequently use broad counterterrorism laws and insult charges to prosecute members of the press.
According to Expression Interrupted, a press freedom monitoring group, 29 journalists are currently behind bars in Turkey. The country’s deteriorating media landscape was also highlighted in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which ranked Turkey 159th out of 180 nations.
