Turkish Cypriot academic probed for 'insulting' Erdoğan
A Turkish Cypriot academic is facing an investigation over charges of “insulting” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Assoc. Prof. Hasan Ulaş Altıok, who teaches at the Eastern Mediterranean University, denied the charges and said that he had not written the article in question.
Nikolaos Stelya / DUVAR
Turkish Cypriot authorities have launched an investigation into an academic on charges of “insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” Assoc. Prof. Hasan Ulaş Altıok, who teaches at the Eastern Mediterranean University, has announced that he was summoned to the police station, according to reporting by the daily Yeni Düzen.
The police told Altıok that one of his published articles “humiliates, insults, instigates hatred and insult against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the purpose of damaging the peace and friendship between the Turkish Republic and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”
Altıok announced on his social media account that he had not written the article in question, and it is in fact “these kinds of fascist behaviors” by authorities that “damage the peace and friendship” between the two nations.
Altıok said that he was being prosecuted over an article that has the title of “Those good people rode away on those beautiful horses and left; this one could not ride and got stuck with us.”
“I have not written this article. I have not even seen such an article,” Altıok said. “We are not scared of you one bit. Don't hold your breath; we will not stay silent,” Altıok wrote on his social media account.
(English version by Didem Atakan)