Turkish authorities have arrested the cafeteria manager of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for insulting the president after he said he would not serve tea to Tayyip Erdogan, one of the manager's lawyers told Reuters on Monday. Senol Buran, who runs the cafeteria at the Istanbul office of Cumhuriyet, was taken into custody after police raided his home late on Saturday, lawyer Ozgur Urfa said. The newspaper is among the few still critical of the government. Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey.
[...] Buran was detained after a police officer providing security for the newspaper said he heard him use a derogatory term to describe Erdogan and say he would refuse to serve the president tea if he ever visited the cafeteria, his lawyer said. According to court documents obtained by Reuters, Buran has denied using an insulting term, while confirming that he had said he would refuse to serve the president tea. He also said he had a dispute with the police officer two years ago.
The judge at an Istanbul court on Sunday ordered Buran's arrest pending trial, citing "strong suspicion of crime committed" and saying the suspect might otherwise put pressure on witnesses, the documents showed.
Previously: Turkey's Erdogan Continues Crackdown on Media with Detention of Cumhuriyet Newspaper Staff (same newspaper)
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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is moving to silence the remaining few independent media outlets in Turkey:
In the three and half months since a failed military coup, Turkey has sacked or suspended more than 110,000 people, launched a military incursion into Syria, and repeatedly threatened to do the same in Iraq. [...] In the latest purge, police on Monday detained the editor and senior staff of the Cumhuriyet newspaper - one of few outlets still critical of Erdogan - over its alleged support for the July putsch. A senior EU politician described it as crossing a red line against freedom of expression, while the U.S. State Department expressed deep concern.
Erdogan is riding a wave of patriotism as the ruling AK Party he founded seeks constitutional change to move Turkey to a fully presidential system which would give him greater executive powers. "What's happening domestically and in terms of Turkey's foreign policy are a political tactic to keep solid the alliance between the base of the AKP and the nationalists," said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and analyst at Carnegie Europe. "This alliance is keen on harsh policies on the Kurdish issue, looks to be in favor of reinstating the death penalty, and we can't really say they regard the preservation of freedom of speech and of the media very highly," he told Reuters.
There is no sign of any easing in Turkish policy at home or abroad, given the need to ensure nationalist support for the constitutional changes that Erdogan and the ruling party want to result from a referendum, which AKP officials have said could be held next spring. The nationalist MHP opposition party, many of its fervently patriotic members supportive of Erdogan's stance since the coup, has indicated it could back the AKP in parliament as it seeks support for the referendum on the presidential system.
Also at CNN, NPR, NYT, BBC, DW, RT, and The Guardian.
Turkey has just put in an order for more "too big to fail" F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, and is heavily involved in the fight against ISIS in Syria. The U.S. State Department recently issued a travel warning for Turkey and is evacuating the civilian families of Istanbul consulate employees, after a "credible" ISIS threat to kill Americans in the country. Update: U.S. issues travel advisory for India
Meanwhile, Moroccans are protesting the death of a fish vendor, reminiscent of the Tunisian uprisings and resultant "Arab Spring" in 2010.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:36AM
Turkey has jailed or executed anyone who disagrees with their dictator.
Russia is invading Ukraine and helping Syria commit genocide.
The US has been occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and hacking all our enemies, sometimes openly.
China has taken over Taiwan and Tibet by force, and is building islands in no-man's lands
Iran is building nukes even those they promised not to, and takes our soldiers hostage with impunity.
But oh no! Let's ignore all that and condemn Israel for the crime of keeping some land they won after savages declared war on them and lost.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @06:02AM
Israel is occupying the land of people who don't want them there, and repressing their economy and human rights. As long as that continues, Israel will continue to face international backlash. One solution would be for one of the groups to kill off everyone in the other group.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @01:08PM
As long as that continues, Israel will continue to face international backlash.
Nobody gives a fuck about the UN's opinion. Israel would have more to worry about if they were condemned by Disney.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:20PM
Then why are they crying about it like such whiney little bitches ?
The simple fact is that Israel was founded by a bunch of anti-semitic, racist, predominantly FOREIGN, terrorist bums who invaded Palestine with the goal of setting up a religious state, complete with religious courts and where women are LEGALLY their husband's PROPERTY. There is literally NO difference between Israel and ISIS except the brand of religious 'state' they founded. Despite over half a century of handouts from the US taxpayer, these bums are still unable to fund their own lifestyle and still rely on billions of taxpayer money per annum to support them in the fashion to which they have become accustomed. They have continually STARTED wars of aggression against all their neighbours to steal territory which they claim their magic sky friend promised them, all funded by US taxpayer money while the US's own infrastructure crumbles. So lets start Making America Great Again by dumping these bums and spend US taxpayer money on the US instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @06:15PM
All well said and correct. I would also add the fact that Israel was founded by the UN so maybe they should care. Resolution 181(II)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @06:20PM
One solution would be for one of the groups to kill off everyone in the other group.
Do you have a newsletter? Asking for a friend.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:36AM
Jewish?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:55AM
Nuke us all from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Thursday December 29 2016, @09:34AM
So your argument is: "Others do wrong things, so nobody has the right to complain about the wrong things we do"?
Anyway, China has not taken over Taiwan. They claim it to be part of China, but unlike Tibet, they don't actually control it (whether that remains so will be seen).
BTW, where is the evidence of Iran building nukes?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:26PM
Well, the Zionists are irrefutably wrong in their illegal occupation and general ethnic cleansing and they know it => they have no counter argument to present, so their only strategy is to distract attention from their crimes (by citing what others are doing), or the more usual strategy of closing down all discussion of the subject via ad-hominem attacks on anyone who dares to broach the subject. Really they are an abhorrent bunch of scumbags, and just think, as an American, billions of your tax dollars are spent every year to prop up these anti-semitic, racist bums.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday December 30 2016, @09:25AM
> China has taken over Taiwan [...] by force [...]
This is true. Ming loyalists expelled the Dutch in 1661, hoping to use Taiwan as a base from which to overthrow the Qing dynasty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Tungning [wikipedia.org]
> Iran is building nukes even those they promised not to, and takes our soldiers hostage with impunity.
Where was it that you heard this?
(Score: 1, Troll) by Flyingmoose on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:56AM
Nuke the bastards from orbit!
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday December 29 2016, @10:38AM
To put things in perspective, in the anniversary of the fall of Venice reign to Napoleon, a group of hotheads with a real machine gun and a fake tank planted a Serenissima Republic flag on top of S. Marco bell tower.
They get swatted and in prison. OK
The head of the movement who was not even there, gets 5 years, OK
But then, they actually go to jail and grace refused two times by two different ministers, which means they would have been better off if they got caught killing somebody for trivial reason.
One of them got ill and died too. This was in 1997.
In 2014, authorities arrest 24 persons for wanting to repeat the experience, and get almost 50 people to trial after careful investigation.
meanwhile, islamic terrorists with refugee benefits get in and out of Italy to plan and carry out actions.
If you want the real face of governments, dare defy them on land, gold, or the issuing of money.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Sulla on Thursday December 29 2016, @06:43AM
In Civ when you sign a defensive pact with another nation it is disolved if either nation involved makes a hostile action against a foreign power. I am sure that if both nations in the pact went to war at the same time this would not be an issue, but thats not a game mechanic. NATO is a defensive pact and Turkey keeps making hostile actions toward nations outside of it. Between the recent fighter jet situations, the Russian ambassador's assisination, etc it seems to me that Turkey should not be welcome in the defensive pact. Now outside of this, the stated purpose of NATO is...well their website really sucks on mobile even in desktop mode.
Point is that NATO is pointless if countries like Turkey are participating. Not to say the strongest members aren't also problematic, but Turkey has some serious issues.
I guess if we go back to Civ though we realize that NATO is an alliance and not a defence pact, alliances are forever so I guess we either make one with Russia or die in atomic fire because Erdogan wants to be dictator.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by G-forze on Thursday December 29 2016, @12:41PM
You're saying this like Turkey is the only Nato member to engage in hostile acts. How about the biggest member, the U.S.?
If I run into the term "SJW", I stop reading.
(Score: 2) by Sulla on Friday December 30 2016, @12:39AM
You are absolutely correct. I had another paragraph written and took it out because I felt it too inflamatory. This goes for the United States as well. NATO is awful and PLENTY of its member nations are as bad or worse than the people it was formed to defend against.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @06:52AM
i guess it won't be long until erdogan starts to point out that bulgaria and greece are actually turkish land.
i honestly don't understand what idiots like him want.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:07AM
Everything.
And then a bit more.
And anyone who disagrees deserves whatever they get.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Thursday December 29 2016, @11:51AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37525650 [bbc.co.uk]
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:43AM
In civilized countries, dissent is often vented by the wagging of a tongue. Nothing much happens after that unless a consensus of people are also worked up.
In other countries, dissent is vented at by the wagging of an AK47. Sometimes that is seen as the only recourse. Kinda hard to stay alive if you do not know who is really pissed off with ya.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday December 29 2016, @08:54AM
Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey.
...fuck that douchebag.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 29 2016, @09:24AM
Anyone remember google bombs?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @09:30AM
All links in the SoylentNews and Slashdot comment section contain rel="nofollow".
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 29 2016, @12:28PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @10:58AM
Tayyip Erdogan is a brainless puddle of slime
Tayyip Erdogan has one very small testicle and a two inch penis.
Tayyip Erdogan smells worse than the billy goats he rapes.
Tayyip Erdogan is more disgusting than the used tampons he collects
The only reason Tayyip Erdogan doesn't have fleas is that fleas have standards.
When Tayyip Erdogan got his sister pregnant, they covered it up by selling the baby as a piglet. The piglet buyer sold it to an aquarium.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:27PM
The law in question appears to be Article 301 [wikipedia.org]:
The dictionary defines "denigrate" [wiktionary.org] as "defame", making this appear little different from a typical libel law [wikipedia.org]. I know nothing about Turkish libel law, but libel laws elsewhere include a defense for substantially true statements [wikipedia.org], such as reliably sourced facts and reasonable conclusions drawn from those facts, which are expressed in a civil manner [wikipedia.org]. If this is true of Turkish libel law as well, then an article showing evidence of material lies by President Erdoğan could justify "from the president-has-a-big-nose dept."
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Thursday December 29 2016, @04:35PM
When do we start calling him what he really is: "Dictator".
His coup worked very well, neutralized the army and now no one will ever be able to successfully challenge him.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @05:32PM
If he legalizes child marriage of QT little girlies to men, then that is just fine.
Anzu should have been married over a decade ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @10:01PM
Fucking lol. Your d*uter0n0my evangelism was just a lie and you're /pol/tard.