An eminent Turkish TV journalist, Sedef Kabas, has been detained for ‘insulting’ President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and can face imprisonment for the same. The Turkish state broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television, TRT Haber, reported that Kabas was arrested at 2 am at her home in Istanbul.
The incident occurred after a television interview on the opposition channel Tele1 during which the journalist used traditional Turkish proverbs to refer to Erdogan. She did not directly mention his name. Fahrettin Altun, head of Turkey’s communications directorate and Erdo?an’s chief spokesman, told The Guardian, ‘The honour of the presidency’s office is the honour of our country … I condemn the vulgar insults made against our president and his office’. Kabas was taken first to the police station and then to the prosecutor’s office.
According to CNN, the cameras were already rolling when she was brought into court. Then, she appeared in front of the judge in Istanbul court, where she was immediately arrested. The chief editor of Tele 1 channel, Merdan Yanarda, criticized her arrest. He said, ‘Her detention overnight at 2am because of a proverb is unacceptable. This stance is an attempt to intimidate journalists, the media and society’.
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