Police Officer Threatened By Deputy's Son Gets 5 Months In Jail

In a standoff between the son of a ruling party deputy and a police officer, a court in the southern province of Hatay sentenced the officer on Friday to five months in prison and handed down a fine to the deputy's son.

The judge in the case issued a suspended sentence, meaning it would not be enforced unless they commit a similar crime.

According to the case file, İstemi Kağan Türkoğlu, the son of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Bayram Türkoğlu, threatened police officer Alper Atilla by saying, "I will have you reassigned." Türkoğlu was fined on charges of issuing a threat, but Atilla was sentenced to five months in jail on the same charge.

The incident dates back to 2012, when Ömer Uzun, an AK Party youth branch head who worked at café police frequent, got into an altercation with officer Atilla over a French toast that the latter had ordered. Atilla threatened Uzun, and the latter told the police officer that he would call the son of an AK Party deputy and have him reassigned. After receiving the call, the younger Türkoğlu arrived at the café and began arguing with the police officer.

He reportedly said: "Look in my eyes; do you know who I am? Know me well; I will have you reassigned." A higher-ranking officer accompanying Atilla, Murat Emer, cursed at Türkoğlu in response to his threat and hit him. Emer reportedly said: "You cannot talk to my subordinate like this. How can you threaten him? I am going to press charges against you."

Following the incident, a district police chief in Hatay organized a special lineup of a number of police officers for Türkoğlu to identify after the latter filed a complaint. Scenes from the lineup were leaked on the Internet.

A lawyer representing Atilla spoke to the Hürriyet daily, saying that Türkoğlu should have been tried for insulting an officer, which would have led him to receiving a more serious conviction. "He committed the crime of threatening [an officer] by abusing his father's political power," the lawyer was quoted as saying.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)