Detained in midnight raid, Journalist Sedef Kabaş arrested for 'insulting Erdoğan'
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Journalist Sedef Kabaş was arrested early Saturday (January 22) for "insulting the president" because of her words during a live broadcast a week ago.
"There is a famous saying, 'A crowned head will get wiser.' But we see that this isn't the reality. There is also a saying that is the exact opposite: 'When cattle go into a palace, they don't become the king; the palace becomes a barn'," Kabaş said during a program on TELE1 TV on January 14
A week later, she posted the second quote on her Twitter and Instagram accounts as a "Circassian proverb," replacing the word "cattle" with "ox."
"Öküz saraya çıkınca kral olmaz. Ama saray ahır olur."
— Sedef Kabaş (@SedefKabas) January 21, 2022
Çerkes atasözü
Shortly after, at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, she was detained during a police raid. Hours later, a penal judgeship of peace remanded her in custody.
TELE1 host Merdan Yanardağ was the first to announce the detention. "Sedef Kabaş is being detained right now. The reason was not fully explained to her, but I think she is being taken to the Security Directorate for insulting Erdoğan," he wrote.
The detention came after several senior government officials, including Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Spokesperson targeted Kabaş on social media because of her words.
Çelik described Kabaş's words as "not opposition but indecency" while Kalın wrote, "Insulting words against the person of our President and the Presidency have revealed the pathetic and depraved state of the person who uttered those."
The head of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Ebubekir Şahin, said on Twitter that the council had started a probe into TELE1 TV over Kabaş's words.
Kabaş, 53, is a well-known journalist who hosted programs on several mainstream media outlets such as NTV, ATV, TV 8, SKY Türk during her career spanning nearly three decades.
CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring Reports
CLICK - Media Monitoring Database
(RT/VK)
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1,032 CITIZENS
'Turkey’s administration is getting farther away from democratic principles'
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION
Arrest of Kabaş, targeting of Aksu reveal 'politics of chaos knows no limits’
ARREST OF JOURNALIST SEDEF KABAŞ
'No one can be detained in a midnight raid unless being caught red-handed'
38 press freedom organizations, journalists urge Turkey to release journalist Sedef Kabaş
‘You cannot get rid of our tongue’: PEN Turkey expresses support for Kabaş, Aksu
‘Insulting the President’: Is it a tool to bring society into line?
‘NO DEMOCRACY WHEN PRESS SILENCED’
International Press Institute calls for journalist Sedef Kabaş's immediate release
Court accepts indictment against jailed journalist Sedef Kabaş: Up to 12 years in prison
Turkey’s top court rejects jailed journalist Sedef Kabaş’s request for release
US Department of State: Freedom of expression is universal