Turkish author Yiğit sued by Erdoğan family, Islamist IHH over her book on ISIL

Family members and relatives of Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, including his son Bilal Erdoğan, son-in-law and Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, and his other close relatives have sued a Turkşsh author who wrote a book on radical Islamist terror organisation Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), according to a report by Kronos online news portal.

The book, which is criticizing Erdoğan regime’s agressive Syria policy, titled “Tekmili Birden IŞİD, El Kaide’den IŞİD’e Amerika İçin Cihat! — The Whole Kit and Boodle of ISIL, from Al Qaeda to ISIL, Jihad for America!” written by Hamide Yiğit, a retired teacher and writer, has had a run of bad luck.

Prosecutor Yasemin Baba, who is also one of the prosecutors in the controversial case against Cumhuriyet daily’s journalists and executives, has filed a lawsuit with a demand for 15,5 years of imprisonment for Yiğit over 5 charges basing on a complaint made by Bilal Erdoğan, Berat Albayrak and radical Islamist Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) while Erdogan’s brother Mustafa Erdoğan and Erdoğan’s brother-in-law Ziya İlgen requested to be participants.

Prosecutor Baba has demanded a severe punishment for writer Hamide Yiğit for alleged humiliation of these names and allegedly making propaganda for “a terrorist organization.” Prosecutor Baba has also filed a lawsuit against writer Yiğit in the framework of the Turkish Penal Code’s (TCK) notorious Article 301, arguing that the Turkish government has also been humiliated in the book.

The retired teacher and author Hamide Yiğit has stated that the lawsuit was opened against her after she decided to donate the revenues coming from the book to the victims of government decrees under the rule of emergency which have dismissed tens of thousands of public servants since a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

It was reported that Hamide Yiğit, who was a retired philosophy teacher in Ankara province, has written several books titled “AKP’s Syrian War-ErdoĞan’s Falling Dreams” (2013), “Bloody Spring in Libya-We Killed You to Liberate” (2014) and “The Whole Kit and Boodle of ISIL, from Al Qaeda to ISIS; Jihad for America”(2016).

It was also learned that In 2015, after a letter of complaint sent to Provincial Directorate of National Education by a parent of a student, an administrative inquiry was initiated against Yiğit. While it was revealed later that the informer was not a parent, anyway, Ankara National Education Directorate filed a criminal complaint against Yiğit by claiming that her posts in social media containing terrorism propaganda, publicly insulting Turkish government and humiliating the President Erdoğan. Then, the prosecution has filed three lawsuits against Yiğit on charges of insulting the president and publicly humiliating the state and the government.

As these administrative and judicial investigations have been still carried out, Hamide Yiğit’s new book titled “The Whole Kit and Boodle of ISIS, from Al Qaeda to ISIL; Jihad for America” was published. The revenue of this book, which describes in all aspects of ISIL, was donated to the victims of government decrees who have been the members of leftist labor union KESK. Then Prosecutor Yasemin Baba has launched an investigation about Yiğit by acting upon the complaint made by İHH, Berat Albayrak and Bilal Erdoğan, whose names were mentioned in the book. Prosecutor Baba filed a lawsuit on June 5, 2017.

Prosecutor Baba has demanded punishment for Yiğit over “insulting the IHH Executive Board, Berat Albayrak and Bilal Erdoğan” and “making a propaganda for a terrorist organization through media.” Prosecutor Baba has also filed another lawsuit with Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code due to some parts of the book. The indictment alleged that Yiğit was publicly humiliating the state and the government.

During her first hearing at İstanbul 30th High Criminal Court on September 27, 2017, the accusation over alleged “terrorist propaganda” was separated from the file. The file with the other charges was sent to the criminal court. After separating the file, two separate cases were filed in İstanbul 2nd Criminal Court against Yiğit. Moreover, İHH has opened a compensation case against author Yiğit and demanded TL 40,000 beside of opening a lawsuit with the request of pulling the book off the shelf.

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