Former Miss Turkey Found Guilty Of Insulting Turkish President

A Turkish court has convicted Miss Turkey 2006 of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, giving her a 14-month suspended prison sentence. 27 year old model Merve Buyuksarac was found guilty of insulting a public official for postings she made on social media in 2014. The case was based on a satirical verse she had reposted on her Instagram account. RT reports: The so-called ‘Master’s Poem, ’ an adaptation of the Turkish national anthem, allegedly criticizes Erdogan, who served as prime minister for more than a decade prior to becoming president and has often been called “Buyuk Usta” [the Big Master]. The poem did not mention Erdogan by name, but made reference to a corruption scandal that allegedly involved his family. During the hearings, the President’s lawyer, Hatice Ozay, stressed that Buyuksarac’s Instagram post had gone beyond “the limits of criticism” and was in fact “an attack” on Erdogan’s personal rights. Buyuksarac was briefly arrested at the time the post was made, but then freed as she denied insulting Erdogan. The case however resurfaced, with Tuesday’s court’s decision based on a previously rarely-used Turkish law that forbids insulting the head of state. Bye, bye democracy: Former Miss #Turkey convicted for ‘insulting [...]