Turkish actor Barış Atay again detained over tweet

ISTANBUL

Turkish actor Barış Atay was detained by police officers early on the morning of May 16. 

“Police officers came to his house and detained him in the morning. They have not informed about the detention period or the criminal act,” said Efkan Bolaç, Atay’s lawyer.

“Finally they have succeeded in getting the police to detain Barış Atay. Since when it is an offense to tell someone ‘You will one day stand trial’ or ‘I don’t forgive you’?” Bolaç tweeted on May 16.

Atay had on May 13 written on Twitter: “You will all apologize in tears.” The tweet referred to Yusuf Yerkel, an advisor at the Turkish Prime Minister’s Office, who made headlines in 2014 after being photographed kicking a protester on the ground during demonstrations following a deadly coal mine disaster in Soma.

“When the day comes we will not forget these things by forgiving, showing mercy, or refraining from putting people on trial … This is just at the beginning. You will be held to account for all you have done to this country and its people,” Atay added.

Yerkel apologized for his behavior via a series of tweets on May 13.

“I would like to inform everyone that being in a picture that I am still saddened by being in a picture I would not like to be in,” he said, complaining about being made a “scapegoat” for the disaster which killed 301 miners.

Yerkel also said he has called the miner, Erdal Kocabıyık, to apologize and received his blessing.

Atay was briefly detained on June 15, 2017 in the town of Dalyan in the Aegean province of Muğla, as part of an ongoing case over charges of insulting Yerkel via a Twitter post. He was released shortly after judicial proceedings were completed.