Twitter user praising terror detained at Istanbul bus terminal

ISTANBUL

AFP photo

A Twitter user who welcomed the death of police officers after deadly bombings in central Istanbul was detained on Dec. 12 at a bus terminal amid police operations against social media users who are accused of conducting terror propaganda over the attacks.

Istanbul police detained the suspect, Berfin K., after she allegedly tweeted “[the attack] targeted the riot police, good for them,” early in the morning at a bus station. 

Police teams have also detained eight others for allegedly conducting terror propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the aftermath of the attack that killed 44 people, mostly police officers. The operations also came after social media users made denunciations of online posts on various platforms that were construed as phrases praising terror. 

Similar operations were also conducted in the western province of İzmir, with 11 people taken into detention as a search continues for four others. 

In the southern province of Antalya, meanwhile, seven people were detained after police evaluated the denunciations made to the police department and the cybercrime department’s website.