Academic Çalışkan Faces Disciplinary Probe For 'Insulting' Erdoğan

The Higher Education Board (YÖK) has launched a disciplinary probe against Associate Professor Koray Çalışkan from Boğaziçi University, accusing him of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Twitter.

According to a report on the Hürriyet daily's website on Tuesday, Çalışkan gave a defense statement to YÖK's High Disciplinary Committee for allegedly insulting Erdoğan in a series of Twitter posts. Speaking to the daily, Çalışkan said YÖK President Yekta Saraç, who is known to be close to Erdoğan, personally launched the probe after Boğaziçi University refused to open a similar probe against Çalışkan. “The probe they launched by by-passing the university is quite interesting. YÖK is authorized to investigate rectors and deputy rectors. It is the first time we see that an academic is being investigated by YÖK,” Çalışkan said.

Noting that the disciplinary regulation of YÖK does not include an offense like “insulting the president,” Çalışkan said he did not insult Erdoğan either.


The academic said he was not shown specific tweets that led to his investigation.

Çalışkan, who is also a journalist with the Radikal daily, is one of hundreds of journalists and academics who have been accused of insulting Erdoğan ever since he was elected president in August of last year. Anti-government journalists and public figures in particular have been targeted by the police and prosecutors on the grounds that they have insulted the former prime minister. These developments are widely considered a new method of intimidating political opponents who do not share the government's views.

Dozens of people, including media figures Sedef Kabaş, Hidayet Karaca and Mehmet Baransu, high school students, activists and even Merve Büyüksaraç -- a former Miss Turkey, have been prosecuted for insulting Erdoğan on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Today's Zaman Editor-in-Chief Bülent Keneş was even handed down a suspended prison sentence of 21 months over a tweet that allegedly insulted Erdoğan on June 6. Keneş did not mention the president's name in his tweet. The prison sentence has attracted worldwide condemnation.

The law that makes insulting the president a criminal offense has become a method of intimidation against people who are vocal in their criticism of Erdoğan. (Cihan/Today's Zaman)