Turkish prosecutors seek jail for two over 'Stop Erdoğan' ad in US

Ankara prosecutors have prepared an indictment for two senior executives of a group responsible for putting up an advertisement that read “Stop Erdoğan” on New York City's Times Square in March. The prosecutors are seeking up to four years and six months in jail for the two people in question on charges of “insulting” Erdoğan.

Wednesday May 26 2021 06:00 pm

Duvar English

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has prepared an indictment over the “Stop Erdoğan” advertisement that was placed on a billboard on New York City's Times Square in March.

The prosecutors are seeking up to four years and six months in jail for two suspects on charges of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The indictment said that the advertisement was placed by a group belonging to the Gülen network, which Turkish authorities refer to as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

It said that the group's senior executives were Hafsa Girdap and Mehmet Murat Kaval, against whom the prosecutors are already running a separate investigation on charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization.”

The ad in the U.S. was placed in March by the group named Advocates of Silenced Turkey, which claims to be committed to "give a voice to all people oppressed in Turkey."

The group's website is currently banned in Turkey and their ads were seen to be praised by staunch supporters of the Gülen network.

In response to the group's ad, Turkish-American society in the U.S. later placed an ad reading “Stop Gülen” on Times Square. The ad also shared details of the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt, which is widely believed to have been orchestrated by Gülenists - a friend-turned-foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).