Investigation launched into columnist Bekir Coşkun for his column on Turkey’s referendum

ISTANBUL

An investigation has been launched into Sözcü columnist Bekir Coşkun for “inciting hatred” in one of his columns regarding Turkey’s upcoming referendum on constitutional changes, Doğan News Agency has reported.

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office issue a written statement on Feb. 1 saying that Coşkun’s column, titlted “Yes-No,” was being examined on charges of “inciting hatred among the public.”

Coşkun expressed defiance in response to the probe, saying he “could give an account for every line of the piece” published on Jan. 19, adding that the “main slanderer” was “the person submitting that primitive constitution to the nation.” 

“People who are torturing the nation have started to play the victim. My column is not about the nation. It is about people who are buttering up those planning to vote ‘yes,’” he said. 

“I said in this column that we should try to persuade people thinking of voting ‘yes’ without trying to change their party. I wrote that the people would vote for a campaign that told them the water we drink from comes from the same mountain and every slice of bread comes from the same homeland. They will vote for a campaign that does not destroy or hurt them, but that embraces them and looks into their eyes,” Coşkun added.

He also said he “still believes in the law,” despite “convenient misinterpretation” of his column by prosecutors.  

“I can give an account for every line I wrote. I trust in the prosecutors and judges despite everything,” he said.