A social media user in Nevşehir province was arrested on Monday for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Diken news website has reported.
According to the report, the social media user, identified as I.V., who was recently detained in Nevşehir, was subsequently arrested on charges of insulting Erdoğan and inciting hatred and hostility.
Last week, a court in Zonguldak province handed down suspended jail sentences of between 11 months, 20 days and 23 months to eight members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) for insulting Erdoğan.
In a similar development on Feb. 20, Samet Sarı, a university student and a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) youth branch, was arrested on charges of insulting President Erdoğan.
Suat Karaman, an academic at the Ankara-based Gazi University and the general secretary of the Association of Academic Staff (TÜMÖD), was sentenced on Feb. 3 to 11 months, 20 days in prison for allegedly insulting Erdoğan.
Scores of people in Turkey have been detained or arrested or are under investigation on allegations of insulting Erdoğan.
As of the end of 2016, at least 10,000 people were under investigation on suspicion of terrorist propaganda and insulting senior state officials on social media.
According to figures released by the Ministry of Interior Affairs in December, 3,710 social media users had been investigated in the last six months of 2016, of whom 1,656 were arrested. A total of 1,203 of those investigations resulted in releases on probation.
