İzmir woman arrested after criticizing Erdoğan over Instagram ban during vox pop

A woman in İzmir was arrested yesterday for criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a street interview. The woman, identified as Dilruba Y., participated in an interview conducted by the YouTube channel "Tüylü Mikrofon," where she expressed her views on the recent ban on Instagram in Turkey.

"If you abolish the parliamentary system and hand over the entire Republic of Turkey to a single person in the 21st century, he will treat it like his father's farm,” she said during the interview. Her remarks referred to the Instagram ban imposed by the government from August 2 to 10, following the platform's removal of Turkish officials’ posts commemorating the slain Palestinian leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Following the release of the interview, she was taken into custody and later charged with "insulting the president" and “provoking the public into animosity and hatred.” These two charges are frequently pressed against those who publicly express dissent. Dilruba Y. was subsequently ordered to be arrested by the court and put in jail. The charge of "insulting the president" has been increasingly enforced since Erdoğan was elected in 2014, with thousands of people convicted under this law, including more than 130 journalists, according to bianet's Media Monitoring Reports.

RTÜK's criticism

This incident comes on the heels of a warning issued by the head of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Ebubekir Şahin. Last week, Şahin said that the council is "closely monitoring" channels regularly publishing vox pop interviews, accusing them of spreading misinformation and presenting biased opinions as representative of the general public.

Vox pops have gained popularity in recent years Turkey, particularly on YouTube, where channels regularly ask passersby for their opinions on current affairs. As mainstream media is largely controlled by the state or pro-government entities, these platforms have also become a space for public expression and critique of the government. This has led to several instances where participants or interviewers have been detained for their remarks. (VK)