Turkish farmer faces 'insulting president' charges after criticizing tomato prices

Turkish authorities prosecuted farmer Sinan Çiftçi for insulting the president after he criticized the government over agricultural struggles. Çiftçi faces up to 4 years and 8 months in prison. Farmers in the Bursa province had protested falling tomato prices, blocking a major highway.

Friday February 21 2025 08:10 am

Duvar English

A local prosecutor’s office in Turkey has prepared an indictment against farmer Sinan Çiftçi, alleging that he had “made statements that insulted and attacked the honor, dignity, and reputation of the president” as he spoke to ANKA News Agency last August about his struggles, according to reporting by the online news outlet Medyascope.

Çiftçi, a farmer from Akhisar village in central Turkey's Bursa province, had stated that his crops were left in the fields. He criticized the government and stated, “Farmers are suffering today.”

The indictment charged Çiftçi with “insulting the president” and requested a prison sentence ranging from one year and two months to four years and eight months.

Prosecutors also sought the application of Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code, which would strip Çiftçi of certain civil rights.

Çiftçi responded to the charges, saying, "We are living in a time when defending one’s labor is considered a crime."

"Political party leaders and journalists are in prison. Anyone who speaks out or criticizes ends up behind bars. What is my crime? Working in 40-degree heat in the summer, tending to tomatoes and watermelons, only to see them rot in the fields while suffering a loss of at least 20,000 lira per acre," he continued.

In August 2024, tomato producers in Bursa’s Karacabey Plain staged a protest on the Bursa-İzmir Highway to voice their grievances, unable to sell their crops.

Gendarmerie and riot police attempted to intervene, but demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Break the hands that oppress us,” “Government, resign,” and “Protect your crops.”

Deputy Orhan Sarıbal from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) had joined the farmers in solidarity.

He drew attention to the low prices, saying, "This is a massive financial loss and a source of deep despair. Dozens of truckloads of tomatoes have been dumped in pastures and used as animal feed, just like what happened with watermelons. Now is the time to take action for tomatoes, to stand with the people of Karacabey."