The ruling AKP supporters, AKP MPs, and AKP ministers went on an open warpath both against the journalist Kabaş and the TV station. Although the journalist had not named names, had not implicated anybody, had not implied the president or anybody else, and had only repeated a very famous and known folk expression, the AKP supporters immediately interpreted that by mentioning “a cattle in a palace” she must have meant their president and nobody else!
Attorney General Demands up to 11 years and 8 months for journalist Sedef Kabaş. Her crime: Repeating a Common Folk Expression on a TV Show.
On a TV show she was invited, journalist Sedef Kabaş said,
“There is a very famous saying: that the crowned head will become wiser. But we see this does not work. Or vice versa, let’s not say that, but rather, let me say an expression on cattle: “When cattle enter a palace, the cow does not become a king, but the palace will become a barn.” In other words, it means the opposite.”
When this was aired, the ruling AKP supporters, AKP MPs, and AKP ministers went on an open warpath both against the journalist Kabaş and the TV station. Although the journalist had not named names, had not implicated anybody, had not implied the president or anybody else, and had only repeated a very famous and known folk expression, the AKP supporters immediately interpreted that by mentioning “a cattle in a palace” she must have meant their president and nobody else!
And immediately the attorney general, under the orders and direction of the palace and the interior ministry, started an investigation, and that morning, at 2:00AM, the journalist’s home was raided by an army of police and she was taken under detention. Turkey was saved.
There has been quite a lot of complaints from the people that the Turkish president Erdoğan is not educated, not cultured, cannot speak any foreign language, lacks a college diploma (as mandated by law to become a president!), and has displayed several contradicting and easily disprovable fake diplomas, but was never able to prove that he ever attended a college, as required by law.
Add to this the palace he built himself with 1,100 rooms where he enjoys exotic fruits and meals the people of Turkey have not even heard about. He has built a golden throne to accept foreign dignitaries which causes embarrassment to the people since it is very presumptuous, lacks taste, and is openly kitsch. The expenditures of the palace are in the millions and Erdogan enjoys a fleet of the latest model cars for the huge number of his “advisors” and officers in the palace. One of his “Top Advisor” is an elementary school dropout who was a wrestler. This advisor gets four paychecks from each of his four positions of “advising.”
The Attorney General did not stop with the “Insulting the President” charge. He is also demanding extra prison terms for the journalist for insulting two ministers.
After the TV airing, AKP supporters and members started a campaign under the hashtag #HaddiniBilSedefKabas, which is an open threat meaning, “Know your limits Kabas.” Sedef Kabaş’s lawyer Ugur Poyraz published a statement on his social media account saying, “My client Sedef Kabaş has been indicted. They went to great lengths to justify the wrongful arrest.”
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