Hasan Akar, a Turkish cleric, was handed down a 2,5-year prison sentence on charges of insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, the Diken news website reported on Wednesday. Akar, who was arrested in June, was accused of insulting the memory of Atatürk and inciting the people to hatred and hostility.
He made remarks such as the “piç [a derogatory term for an illegitimate child] who died in 1938” for Atatürk and insulted his mother by saying that she was working at a brothel according to the official records in Thessaloniki, Atatürk’s birthplace in Greece, in a social media message.
An indictment was also prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has been seeking a jail sentence of four-and-a-half years for controversial historian Mustafa Armağan on charges of insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Armağan, the host of the “Derin Tarih” TV show aired on the pro-government station TVNET, attracted widespread criticism when he claimed in a May 6 broadcast that Atatürk’s foster child, Afet İnan, was his illegitimate wife.
After the claims stirred outrage on social media, investigations were launched into Armağan as well as commentators Süleyman Yeşilyurt and Yavuz Bahadıroğlu for “defamation.”
An İstanbul court had ruled for the arrest of one of the two historians for whom detention warrants were issued for insulting Atatürk. The court has arrested historian Süleyman Yeşilyurt on charges of “insulting the memory of Atatürk” and “inciting people to hatred and hostility.”
The Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in İstanbul had issued arrest warrants for two television commentators who sparked public outrage due to their controversial remarks about Atatürk. Commentators Süleyman Yeşilyurt and Hasan Akar were accused of insulting Atatürk’s memory and fomenting hatred and enmity among the public.(SCF with turkishminute.com) July 19, 2017
