Doctor Fired Over Critical Posts On Social Media

Dr. İlker Can Topçu has lost his job at the Kartal Blood Donation Center because he shared a caricature that criticized the government and called Justice and Development Party (AK Party) supporters “AK Trolls,” according to the Cumhuriyet daily.

Topçu was allegedly fired from his job at the blood donation center, where he had worked for three years, because he shared a picture of the “Bahattin” caricature, notorious for opposing the government, on social media. In the cartoon posted by Topçu the character Bahattin is shown criticizing Reza Zarrab, an Iranian businessman at the center of a corruption and bribery scandal that went public on Dec. 17, 2013. The doctor also posted a picture of AK Party supporters wrapped in shrouds to show their support “to the death” and called them “AK Trolls.”

The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) board of directors called on Topçu to defend his posts on Nov. 21, 2014. The board concluded that the doctor's posts provided grounds for dismissal. Topçu has since announced that he will file a lawsuit against his former employer for wrongful termination.

“I have looked at my posts one by one, and there is no slander or curses in any of them. There are already caricatures and funny things that are circulating on the Internet which in my case they call criminal activity,” said the doctor.

“For someone to share posts that are offensive to a certain segment of society while working to provide blood for the general public is incompatible with the principles of Kızılay,” stated the Kızılay press office.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)