When the president Erdoğan gave out the bank IBAN number of the account where people were asked to contribute, it immediately became the joke of the country. Living in a palace with gold covered thrones and unbelievable exuberance and asking for handouts was ridiculed all over the social media posts. Journalist Aygün also shared a joke that ridiculed the IBAN announcement, likened it to a verse in the Koran, the holy book of the Muslims.
Journalist and TV announced Hakan Aygün has been captured by the police due to his joking post on Turkish government’s money collection campaign.
Hakan Aygün is the ex-“general publication manager” and editor at the Halk TV.
Last week, the Turkish government banned all opposition held provincial governments to collect money from the people for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Turkish central government of the Islamic AKP party then froze the provincial government accounts and is expected to confiscate the donations there.
The next day, the central government started its own donation campaign, signaling that the government had no funds available to fight the pandemic. Thus, the AKP and the Red Crescent whose job is to fight disasters like this were bankrupt and had no money. The government had been collecting taxes specifically for this kind of disasters for the last 20 years. However, these funds were transferred to the US to build a 16 floor building in Manhattan.
When the president Erdoğan gave out the bank IBAN number of the account where people were asked to contribute, it immediately became the joke of the country. Living in a palace with gold covered thrones and unbelievable exuberance and asking for handouts was ridiculed all over the social media posts.
Journalist Aygün also shared a joke that ridiculed the IBAN announcement, likened it to a verse in the Koran, the holy book of the Muslims.
Turkish government immediately put the prosecution and police resources to work and identify, then capture the culprit behind this joke.
After handcuffing and detaining the journalist, the police confiscated his phone and is currently assigned investigators to search through all his social media posts to see if he broke other laws.
He is being charged with desecrating religious beliefs and insulting Islam and is still under detention.
After his initial questioning and a request from the prosecutor’s office Aygün was transferred to a court where he was arrested pending trial.
Turkey claims to be a secular democracy where the government affairs are supposed to be separate from religious beliefs.
Turkey is a NATO member and touts its freedom of press and freedom of expression as a model for the world.
(Edited: This news article was edited after the journalist’s initial questioning and arrest)
Sendika.org news (M.B.)
