Complaint filed against 27 people who tweeted about Istanbul hostage crisis in Istanbul
ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency
DHA Photo
A criminal complaint has been filed against 27 prominent figures, including main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, journalists and celebrities, for comments made on social media about the police operation to end the March 31 hostage crisis at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse, which ended with the death of a prosecutor and his two captors.The criminal complaint has been filed against 27 public figures for their alleged role in “triggering hatred in society by discriminating based on race, religion or language,” and “encouraging people to stage an armed attack against the government.”
The complaint was filed at the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office by lawyer Rahmi Kurt.
Prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz was killed on March 31 after an eight-hour standoff that began after Şafak Yayla and Bahtiyar Doğruyol, two members of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), took him hostage, demanding that the police who killed 15-year-old Berkin Elvan during the 2013 Gezi protests publicly reveal themselves.
Along with CHP head Kılıçdaroğlu, the other 26 suspects in the complaint were CHP deputy Hüseyin Aygün, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Levent Tüzel, independent deputy Hakan Şükür, journalists Nazlı Ilıcak, Mirgün Cabas, Nedim Şener, Koray Çalışkan, Asım Yıldırım, Tayfun Talipoğlu, Pelin Batu, Ceyda Karan, Banu Güven, Emre Uslu, academic Önder Aytaç, actors Barış Atay, Ferhat Tunç, Tarık Akan, Zuhal Olcay, Levent Üzümcü, Şevval Sam, Mustafa Altıoklar, Cahit Berkay, Sinan Tuzcu, Bülent Parlak, Hüseyin Turan, and former deputy Feyzi İşbaşaran.
