Man accused of terrorism for sharing Trump's bizarre letter to Erdoğan on social media in Turkey's Diyarbakır

A man in Turkey's southeast is accused of making terror propaganda for sharing former U.S. President Donald Trump's 2019 letter to President Erdoğan. "Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” read the letter that prompted surprise at the time.

Sunday February 28 2021 04:50 pm

Duvar English

A man in the Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır is accused of making propaganda of a terrorist organization for sharing the bizarre letter sent by former U.S. President Donald Trump to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in October 2019.

The 35-year-old man, identified only by the initials as M.S.Ö. shared Trump's letter that read, "Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” on social media, prompting Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to accuse him of making terrorist propaganda, Mesopotamia Agency reported on Feb. 28.

Trump's letter to Erdoğan was met with global surprise at the time due to its wording that's unusually informal. The former U.S. president was urging Erdoğan to reach a deal with the People's Protection Units (YPG) - deemed a terror group by Ankara due to its links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - during Turkey's incursion into northern Syria.

Among the social media posts that were listed as terror propaganda were news reports on the detentions of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies, Kurdish songs and calls for peace.

While denying all charges, M.S.Ö. confirmed that the posts were shared by him. The Diyarbakır 11th Heavy Penal Court, however, accepted the indictment into him and his trial began as a result.