Teacher sentenced to prison for likening Turkish PM to Hitler

ISTANBUL

AA photo

A military school teacher was sentenced to one year in prison for likening Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Germany's Adolf Hitler, Anatolia news agency reported.
 
The court found Oktay Zaif, who allegedly showed footage of speeches by Hitler and Erdoğan during class hours, guilty of "politically aiming to distance military students from Prime Minister Erdoğan and his party."
 
The court further stated that the "political aim" behind the move was "constant."
 
Zaif, however, claimed he was unaware of the content of the video, and turned it off when he heard the prime minister's voice.
 
"I downloaded the video from the Internet because it was related to the World War II," Zaif said. "I discovered the content on the prime minister after it began playing. I turned it off then."
 
The sentence, originally set at one year and three months, was reduced to one year and 15 days when the suspect showed remorse in the courtroom, Anatolia news agency reported.