Almost ten years in jail for CHP leader in Istanbul
The leader of the opposition party CHP in Istanbul, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, has been sentenced to almost ten years in prison after she was found guilty of sending old tweets in which she spread terrorist propaganda and insulting the president. Since she showed no remorse and read a poem by the left-wing poet Nâzım Hikmet in court, the sentence was not suspended.
Pandora's box has been opened
The trial could mark the start of a new era of politically motivated judgements, Yetkin Report comments:
“Getting your political opponent incarcerated using social media posts opens the door to new, even more, unsettling possibilities. It's common knowledge in Ankara's political backstage that there are people within the AKP as well as among AKP's ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who want to get Kılıçdaroğlu and Akşener [the leaders of the two biggest opposition parties] incarcerated, too.”
Stop the manipulators
Columnist Melih Altınok of the pro-government daily Sabah points out that Erdoğan's political ascent began after he was arrested for reading a poem, but adds that the two cases are not comparable:
“If only our judiciary would tackle those who believe that the only way to get ahead is to go to prison, like Erdoğan did, and who therefore try to set the country's agenda and manipulate public opinion. ... I hope that Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül will take that into account when presenting his announced judicial reform.”