Seven people were arrested for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during protests held in İzmir following a referendum on April 16, the Diken news website reported on Saturday.
According to the report, police detained at least 21 individuals for protesting the referendum results at a park in İzmir’s Bornova district on April 17. Of those, seven were sent to pretrial detention by an İzmir court on charges of “insulting” Erdoğan and several other high-ranking government members.
A constitutional amendment that gives more power to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was approved by a slight majority on April 16, although debates over alleged voting irregularities have yet to ease. The opposition and international observers say as many as 2.5 million voters could have been “manipulated,” effectively changing the result. Hundreds of “No” voters have taken to the streets since then. (Turkey Purge)
