A famous Turkish actor is accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and inciting an armed uprising over comments made during a television program last week, local media reports.
Turkish Theater and film Actor Mujdat Gezen (C) answers journalists’ questions as he leaves Anatolian courthouse in Istanbul, on December 24, 2018 (Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
Metin Akpinar — who is also a well-known comedian in Turkey — is taken in by police for questioning, along with another Turkish actor, Mujdat Gezen.
“If we don’t become a (democracy)… the leader might be hung from his feet or maybe poisoned in the cellars or meet the same end as other leaders in the past,” Akpinar, 77, reportedly said on television on Friday.
An Istanbul court says the two men will be released on conditional bail after they were summoned to give statements to prosecutors. But they will have to report to a police station once a week and are banned from leaving Turkey.
Both men are suspected of “insulting the president.” Akpinar also is suspected of “inciting an armed uprising against the government,” the Istanbul public prosecutor says, quoted by Hurriyet daily.
— AFP
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