A court in Turkey issued an arrest warrant on Friday for the editor-in-chief of the English-language newspaper Today's Zaman on charges of defaming President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Twitter.
The editor, Bülent Keneş, denied insulting the president, saying that he was simply exercising his right to free expression.
After a court hearing, Keneş said he would continue to speak out against the Erdoğan government. "I will continue to oppose turning this country into an open-air prison and an unlawful, oppressive and arbitrary administration,” Keneş said.
Today's Zaman for tomorrow!.. pic.twitter.com/beKogIodkc— Bulent Kenes (@bkenes) October 9, 2015
On the same day that the editor was being prosecuted for what he declared was free speech, another Turkish journalist, Necati Doğru, was convicted of insulting Erdoğan and sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison.
Responding to the sentence, Doğru wrote in his newspaper: “Whatever you write it’s an ‘insult.’ Only fake compliments are asked for, but sorry I’m not that type.”
Bulent Kenes waiting for police to arrest him. The one with jailed Twitter banner. pic.twitter.com/sHHI0r14Sw— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) October 9, 2015
The actions against the journalists are part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Turkey, aimed particularly at prominent figures who use social media platforms to criticize Erdoğan and his government. Earlier this year, Merve Büyüksaraç, an industrial designer who once won the Miss Turkey pageant, was prosecuted for an Instagram post that was considered insulting to the president.
In addition, a former footballer, Hakan Şükür, is under investigation for allegedly insulting the president on Twitter. And the editor-in-chief of another daily newspaper in Turkey, Meydan, is being investigated for quoting remarks by an opposition party official.
Arrests and detention of journalists has become such a routine in Turkey that the national is often at the top of the list of the world's leading jailers of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Last December, journalist and TV producers were among two-dozen people arrested in raids aimed at supporters of a prominent critic of Erdoğan.