Turkish government’s attacks on opposing citizens at full throttle

At a tea house in Turkey’s western Anatolian province Izmir, a citizen, who asked to be switched off the television channel broadcasting the Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s rally, was hauled in by the police and interrogated due to 'insulting the president' upon the delation of the teahouse’s owner.

At a tea house in Izmir, a citizen, who asked to be switched off the television channel broadcasting the Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s rally, was taken to the police station and interrogated due to "insulting the president" upon the delation of the teahouse’s owner.

The incident came to light after another citizen in the teahouse had shared the facts on his social media account. The citizen told the incident to soL news.

'BEING UNWILLING TO LISTEN TO THE PRESIDENT (‘REİS’) IS A KIND OF INSULT'

The incident that took place on Monday, April 10, 2017, in İzmir’s Üçyol district occurred as follows:

A citizen at a tea house in Izmir asked for the tea house owner to be switched off the television channel broadcasting the President Tayyip Erdoğan’s rally. This request caused a fleeting tension between the citizen and the owner.

Tea house owner said that "the president is talking, not the enemy!" In response to this, the citizen answered "if I wanted to listen to him, I would have gone to his rally in Izmir yesterday. I don’t want to listen." Shortly after the delation of the tea house owner, five policemen arrived at a tea house. The policemen, who firstly talked to the owner, homed in on the citizen unwilling to listen to the Erdoğan’s rally. When the police said to the citizen that "you have overtly insulted our dear president in a public place", the citizen responded "I did not insult him, but I do not have to listen to him; I wanted to be switched off the television." Thereupon, one of the policemen said that "being unwilling to listen to ‘reis’ (referring the president) in a public place is also a kind of insult."

The citizen, who discussed with the police for a while, was taken to the police station to be interrogated.

Meanwhile, the attacks of the Turkish government and its law-enforcement bodies on the opposition have been going on at full pelt.

In Istanbul, a group of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters once again attacked the students conducting ‘No!’ campaign for the referendum to be held on April 16.

While the AKP supporters tried to provoke the students by attacking them, the assailants fled the area after the students saying "No!" swarmed to the scene.