ISTANBUL (AP) – There’s no monarch in democratic Turkey – but you might not know it watching the news these days.
It has become as easy to get jailed for offending the country’s paramount leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as it is in countries where lese majeste laws forbid insults to royals. The trend alarms many people who have harbored hope for Turkey as a beacon of Western-style government in the Islamic world.
Take the case of former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac. Last year, the beauty queen posted a seemingly innocuous poem on her Instagram site. The verses, a satirical adaptation of the Turkish national anthem, did not mention Erdogan by name, but alluded to a corruption scandal that involved his family.
In January, Buyuksarac was detained for questioning over suspicion of violating the law prohibiting insults to public servants. She could face up to two years in prison.
“In democratic countries, what happened to me is not normal,” Buyuksarac told The Associated Press in an interview in an Istanbul cafe. “I think politicians have to be open to criticism.”