Police probe 30 people over Erdoğan death rumors on Twitter

The state-run Anadolu Agency shared this photo at 1.37 p.m. to announce Erdoğan's arrival in Ankara

Click to read the article in Turkish

Legal action has been initiated against 30 social media users for their Twitter posts about rumors of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's death, the General Directorate of Security has announced.

The hashtag #ölmüş (dead) became a trending topic in Turkey shortly after midnight and more than 40,000 tweets have been posted under it as of 4 p.m. today (November 3).

While the hashtag makes no reference as to who was "dead," almost all messages were implicity or explicitly about the president.

"As part of virtual patrols, it has been encountered that the #ölmüş hashtag was launched, alluding to our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan," said the directorate.

Police identified 30 people whose messages were considered as manipulative or insultive to the president, it said.

Meanwhile, Presidency Communications Director Fahrettin Altun today shared a video of Erdoğan with the message, "Confidence for friends, fear for enemies..."

Dosta güven, düşmana korku… pic.twitter.com/ljoR6UEAuI

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) November 3, 2021

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