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Turkish Tweets: Leading Journalist Arrested For Tweet On Erdogan Corruption Scandal

582574_215472875248080_1866740398_n220px-Recep_Tayyip_ErdoganSedef Kabas, a leading Turkish journalist, has been arrested in another example of the rollback on civil liberties under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As part of his attack on secularism and his introduction of Islamic laws into Turkey’s government, Erdogan has been cracking down critics and journalists over the outcry of the international community. In the case of Kabas, a single tweet on Twitter was enough. The journalist had just sent her five-year-old to school when police came knocking to ask if she authored a tweet about how the government quashed a corruption investigation into his family and close associates of Erdogan. Erdogan previously promised to “eradicate” Twitter in Turkey and he appears to be now doing it one journalist and poster at a time.


The scandal involves Erdogan’s family, four ministers from his ruling Justice and Development Party as well as close associates and businessmen. There are even incriminating phone call recordings where Erdogan appears to instruct his son to hide tens of millions of dollars. Erdogan insists that the recordings were edited.

The government has not tried to maintain a pretense of legality. The original prosecutor for the case was replaced with Salihoğlu as the new chief prosecutor for Istanbul. He then dropped the case 10 months later for lack of evidence. Then the Erdogan government pushed through a controversial vote in the Turkish parliament blocking the four now-former ministers from facing charges.

The tweet by Kabas criticized the termination of the corruption investigation and added “Do not forget the name of the chief-prosecutor who cancelled the investigation, Hadi Salihoglu.” She admitted to being the author and was told that the police would conduct a full search of her home. They were particularly interested in communication devices that would show her associates and messages. They confiscated Kabas’ laptop and cell phone and even her son’s tablet. She was then carted off for interrogation.

Now it is Kabas who faces up to five years in prison and prosecutors say that they will be adding a further indictment, which carries a sentence of five years and four months, for showing “resistance” to the police when they searched her home in December.

It is a good thing that Erdogan has announced that Turkey has the highest level of press freedom in the world.

Source: Fox News

51 thoughts on “Turkish Tweets: Leading Journalist Arrested For Tweet On Erdogan Corruption Scandal”

  1. Would this be a good time to remark on the Marines taking out their firing pins and surrendering their weapons to Iranian-backed terrorists who took over our embassy? Does Obama still think his global strategy is “winning?”

  2. If we lose our cozy relationship with Turkey, I wonder if we’ll finally demand that they admit to the Armenian Genocide. We’ve been too afraid to lose our fragile fair-weather alliance with a ME country to make any strong statement about it before.

  3. Turkey, with its large army, has offered no help in fighting ISIS. As a matter of fact they haven’t even attempted to stop the foreigners who pass thru Turkey on their way to joining ISIS. They are slowly implementing Sharia law, and are increasingly turning away from the freedom we expect of NATO members. They are uncooperative in allowing us to arm the Kurdish forces fighting ISIS. Time to kick them out of NATO.

    1. Vixpix1 wrote: “Turkey, with its large army, has offered no help in fighting ISIS. As a matter of fact they haven’t even attempted to stop the foreigners who pass thru Turkey on their way to joining ISIS.”

      I read recently that Hamas has established a base for training terrorists inside Turkey. Hamas headquarters in Turkey is led by Salah al-Arouri.

  4. Mr (Dr?) Turley, you voted for a guy who has subjected journalists to treason trials, so I guess we all can be wrong, so dead wrong, yeah? Then lets be ashamed of ourselves first before being critical of a Turk..?

  5. I wouldn’t trust Erdogan as far as I could throw him. He’s no different that the Arabian noble who said that U.S. women drive because they don’t mind getting raped. What wrapped minds.

  7. Erdogan puzzles me. I briefly served with a few Turkish soldiers in Korea and they all seemed like educated no-nonsense guys. How did this guy gain such power?

    As for Turkey being a NATO ally…please, they parcel out very few concessions to NATO nations, and block NATO as often as not.

  8. I agree with Trooperyork. The NATO thing is not like the UN were all territories, civilized or not, can belong. We are supposed to be defending the North Atlantic countries with whom we agree with politically. Might as well let North Korea.

  10. I have to laugh at the article I provided a link to above as the same article states the U.S. was #1 in quantity of Twitter account information requests.

  12. In France we call two Muslim Buddies something else. You would say Gay Guys in the U.S. Erdogan is between a rock and a hard place. Or Barack and a hard place. We on Planet Remulak think that Erdogan is from another planet–not Earth. I think he is from Planet Gonad. They send shills into planets all around the universe. Someone needs to ask him to show his papers. In Europe we call a guy With Out Papers a WOP.

  13. Hey, Erdogan is one of Barack’s best Muslim buddies. Can’t wait till the progressives in this Misadministration take control of the internet and subject it to their approved rules and regulations.

  14. Wait . . . in order to deny that he quashed an investigation into corruption charges, he arrests the journalist investigating him?

    This would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. Turkey is just another ME country sliding away from democracy and human rights.

    1. Justice Holmes – over the last couple of weeks we have had several threads dealing with Turkey, hence my “picking on Turkey” comment.

  17. Erdogan is jealous of Obama and the NSA. Then he could go after reporter’s phone, email, and private conversations; not just their social media. I’m sure Obama just chuckles @ this ham n’ egger.

    I don’t see a sabbatical to Turkey anytime soon for JT.

  18. Why are we picking on Turkey? We have so many things in the US to worry about and discuss. There is nothing we can personally do about Turkey and we already know the country is run by a meglomanic.

  19. I don’t pity any so called citizen of a so called nation state who surrenders their Democracy. All power to them. When I visited Turkey there was a song sung by his opponents and it was a take off on Herman and the Hermits song about Henry The 8th.

    {music-}
    I’m Erdogan the 8th I am. Erdogan the 8th I am I am.
    I got married to the widow next door.
    She’s been married seven times before.. And!
    Everyone was an Erdogan.
    It wouldn’t be a Willy or a Fred.
    For there ain’t no name like Erdogan.
    Erdogan the 8th I am!

    —

    Turkey likes the dark ages. Turkey likes to be part of Nato as well. They can flaunt the idiocy of the United States and other Nato countries who included them. Turkey does not sit on the North Atlantic by the way. No, its East of Corfu. And East of Corfu the Ten Commandments Don’t Apply. I would suggest that its a pirate territory and one should fly over and flush. But for Turkey it would be better to fly over and artFay. Pig Latin is necessary on WordPress. Even in AmeriKa we need our censors. Ask Chuckleberry Todd. He called Snowden a traitor.

  20. Mr. Erdogan has taken to Fascism like a duck to water (along with the trappings of despotism – his new palace).

    Pity the Turks who are losing their democracy.

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