‘Insult’ cases Erdoğan says do not exist documented in Justice Ministry statistics

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in the US last week as he attended the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.

During his visit, Erdoğan also gave an interview to Margaret Brennan from the CBS News. Referring to human rights organizations' statements and reports, Brennan asked Erdoğan about the claims that "100 thousand citizens were being investigated just because they insulted him."

In response to this, Erdoğan said, "And you believe all these? I don't believe those that you call international organizations. There are no such cases filed about me. Look, they are deceiving you, too. And you believe these. Are you researching these at their source?"

However, the cases of "insulting the President" that Erdoğan said do not exist are documented in the statistics of the Justice Ministry. According to the "2020 Justice Statistics" of the Ministry, only the year saw 31,297 investigations launched as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), the article which regulates the offense of "insulting the President."

While 9,166 of these investigations ended in decisions of non-prosecution, 7,790 of them turned into court cases. As for the other investigations, they ended in decisions of non-jurisdiction, were merged with other investigations or prosecutions or sent to another bureau.

The number of investigations were as follows by years:

• 682 in 2014
• 7,216 in 2015
• 38,254 in 2016
• 20,539 in 2017
• 26,115 in 2018
• 36,066 in 2019

The number of investigations that have been launched on charge of "insulting the President" since 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President for the first time, has become 160,169. Of the investigations launched since 2014, 35,507 turned into court cases where 38,608 people were put on trial. Of the ones put on trial, 1,107 were younger than 18.

In the court cases that were filed, 12,881 people were convicted. 3,625 people, including 10 children, were sentenced to prison. 5,660 people were acquitted of the offense charged in these trials.

Other statistics from the Justice Ministry

The report of the Ministry of Justice shares other statistics, too. For instance, 40,402 individual applications were made to the Constitutional Court in 2020. While 45,414 applications (including the ones made in previous years) were concluded in 2020, 33,262 were found "inadmissible" by the top court. "At least one violation of rights" was found in 1,219 files.

When the individual applications to the Constitutional Court are concerned, the violation of "the right to a fair trial" was the most frequently voiced allegation in those applications with 27,076 people.

It was followed by "the personal liberty and security" with 4,078 people, by "the right to life" with 383 people, by "freedom of expression" with 1,150 people,"the prohibition of torture and maltreatment" with 1,226 people and "the right to assembly and demonstration" with 83 people.

Several applications were also made about the violations of the right to property, prohibition of discrimination, right to respect for private and family life, prohibition of forced labor, freedom of religion and conscience, right to elect and to be elected and right to education.

Distribution of violations by applications

While 5,690 rulings of rights violations were given in 2020, the most frequent violation was that of "the right to a fair trial."

While 65 people's "right to personal liberty and security" was violated according to the top court, 114 people's "right to property" was violated, 25 people's "right to life" was violated, 3 people's "union rights" were violated and 70 people's "right to assembly and demonstration" was violated.

While the Constitutional Court concluded that "the prohibition of torture and maltreatment" was violated in 200 applicants' files, a ruling of "violation of freedom of expression" was given in 35 people's files. (HA/SD)