One arrested for insulting Turkish leaders in Diyarbakir

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - One person was arrested in Diyarbakir on the accusation of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk during the inauguration ceremony of the mayors of the city's Sur district, the interior ministry announced on Saturday.

A video circulated on social media on Friday of a moment during the inauguration ceremony of Adnan Orhan and Fatma Gulan Onkol, co-mayors of Diyarbakir’s Sur district from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), when an individual appears to request the removal of pictures of Erdogan and Ataturk and uses insulting language directed at the two Turkish leaders. Social media users accused the co-mayors of joining in the insults.

Orhan and Onkol released a statement distancing themselves from the insults directed at Erdogan and Ataturk.

“The words allegedly spoken by our party management and co-chairs are the words of an independent citizen, not us. As can be seen from the footage, the allegations directed at us are unfounded,” read the statement.

Turkish law punishes those who publicly insult Ataturk with up to three years imprisonment. Anyone who insults the president could face up to four years in jail.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Saturday that he had appointed civil inspectors to investigate the incident and hours later he announced the arrest.

DEM Party’s executive committee released a statement saying that the appointment of the civil inspector is an attempt to distract the public from other issues such as “acts of embezzlement, irregular spending” in municipalities previously run by trustees from the ruling parties.

“As DEM Party, we are clear and confident. Our municipalities will not shy away from any investigation. However, we demand that these investigations be expanded to include embezzlement, corruption, and plunder in the municipalities,” read the statement, adding that the co-mayors “object to the insults and actions by a citizen who had no official connection with our party or the municipality at the Sur municipality.”

Similar incidents occurred in Mardin and Diyarbakir. The interior minister announced on Friday the assignment of civil inspectors to investigate allegations that “the National Anthem was not sung” at the opening of the Mardin Metropolitan Municipality Council and “the Turkish flag was removed” at the opening of the Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality Council.

The incident comes as DEM Party is under pressure from political rivals calling for its closure. Erdogan's ultranationalist ally and leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Tuesday called for finalizing a legal case at the constitutional court to shut down the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), DEM Party’s sister party, saying "it should be DEM's turn next."

Turkey held local elections on March 31 when the DEM Party won in 85 cities, districts and villages in Kurdish regions of the country.

In the 2019 local elections, HDP won the mayoralty in eight provinces, only to see dozens of elected pro-Kurdish mayors ousted from office and replaced with state-linked trustees due to their alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).