‘Insulting Erdoğan’: Investigation for asking ‘missing’ Central Bank reserves
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The Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into a post asking the fate and whereabouts of the 'missing' Central Bank reserves. The citizen who asked on Instagram, "Where is 128 billion dollars" is now being investigated for "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The citizen said on Instagram:
"Where is 128 billion dollars? With this freaky system, the institutions and boards of the state have been destroyed. In the one-man rule, the 'state mind' has been eliminated. The stability of the Central Bank has been destroyed as well; 4 ministers have been changed in 3 years. Our money has become worthless! Our 128 billion dollars has vanished into thin air!
"#WhereIs128BillionDollars TEKEL, Türk Telekom, Petkim, Sugar Factories, Tüpraş, thousands of lands, hundreds of businesses, power plants, etc. etc. The money that had entered the safe of the Treasury from all these privatizations since 2003 by the end of 2020 was 62 billion 348 million dollars. Two times of this money #WhereIs128BillionDollars!
"[Interior Minister] Süleyman Soylu: 'In the country of [President, AKP Chair] Erdoğan, everyone expresses themselves, no one is afraid or shies away.' An investigation has been launched into the [main opposition] CHP's banners for insulting Erdoğan. #WhereIs128BillionDollars."
CLICK - CHP's banner over Bosphorus: 'Where is 128 billion dollars?'
'I don't know where the money is' defense
Investigated over these remarks, the citizens went to the Mersin Security Directorate and gave a statement at the Public Security Bureau.
The citizen said, "As the CHP was asking the remarks that I made in my posts frequently in that period, I shared those statements with the intention of asking them to my followers. I did not aim to insult while posting the messages. I don't know where the 128 billion dollars is. I asked it purely out of curiosity. I don't have any special animosity towards the President. These were not messages that were shared with the intention of insulting him."
CHP MP: Judicial system protecting the Palace
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Mersin MP Ali Mahir Başarır has criticized the investigation launched by the Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the social media posts that questioned the fate and whereabouts of the 'missing' Central Bank reserves.
Referring to the recent period amid the allegations made by Sedat Peker, who is facing a warrant for "leading a criminal organization", Başarır has said, "For days, while the serious allegations about the state-politics-mafia-media links have been publicly obvious, no prosecutor has taken any action with a sense of duty and responsibility. But an investigation has been instantly launched against a citizen for wondering and asking on social media where the 128 billion dollars has gone. This is an open indication that the judiciary in our country has become 'palace-like'."
Referring further to the 'palace', or the Presidential complex of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, CHP MP Başarır has raised concerns that "there has been created such a judicial system that the judges and prosecutors have embraced it as their duty to protect only the palace."
Underlining that "every citizen has the freedom to question the money at the Central Bank", Başarır has said, "Every citizen has the right to criticize the current 'One Man' regie in our country. Enough is enough. The prosecutor must put aside being the prosecutor of the Palace and be the Prosecutor of the people. Those who govern the state must be open to criticism. There is no curse, no public insult. But the AKP Chair is so intolerant that we can understand it from the number of investigations opened for 'insulting the President' since he took office as the President." (HA/SD)