Court orders individual to post Turkish flags daily on social media following 'terrorism propaganda' conviction

A Turkish court has sentenced an individual on trial for “posting propaganda for a terrorist organization” to post Turkish flags on their social media account every day for a month and released them under judicial control measures.

Wednesday December 27 2023 08:58 pm

Duvar English

A Turkish court on Dec. 26 ordered Ruşen Fırat from Turkey’s eastern Erzurum province to post an image of the Turkish flag on her social media every day for a month for “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” and released her under judicial control measures.

Police detained Fırat from her home for social media posts dated 2015 and 2016 that were allegedly “propaganda for a terrorist organization,” and the prosecutor’s office requested a 2.5-year prison sentence, according to reporting by the Anadolu Agency.

Fırat was revealed to be a grandchild of Sheikh Said, a Kurdish figure executed in the early Republican period for leading a rebellion in southeastern Turkey.

The posts in question featured the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq and a poster of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan photographed during a Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) rally in 2016.

Fırat’s sister Halime Fırat stated to Bianet that the police called their home multiple times since the sentence and reminded them to post the images, or that Fırat would be detained again.

The sister added that they believed the punishment was arbitrary and unlawful. “We do not have a problem with the Turkish flag,” stated Fırat.

Lawyer of Fırat described the court order as a “scandal,” and said they would file a criminal complaint against the judge who made the call.

The Bar Association of Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakır also filed a complaint against the judge as his ruling went against duty requirements and legal provisions.

Fırat began to post the Turkish flag on her various social media accounts.

The prosecutor’s office appealed the court’s decision to release the woman under judicial control measures.