Four held for insulting Erdogan

ISTANBUL: Turkey has stepped up arrests of activists accused of personally insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, detaining at least four people in the last four days on charges of slandering the Turkish strongman, reports said on Tuesday.
The opposition accuses the authorities of setting up a cult of personality around Erdogan, who moved to the presidency in August after over a decade as prime minister.
All of the latest arrests were related to nationwide demonstrations on Friday, when secular Turks boycotted schools and took to the streets to demand a secular education, the Dogan news agency reported.
Onur Kilic, 25, the organiser of the demonstration in the western city of Izmir, was arrested on Friday for allegedly chanting “thief, murderer Erdogan”, referring to corruption allegations against the president and his inner circle.
“I was told that I had been arrested for insulting the president but I haven’t insulted anyone. I was just telling the truth” Kilic, who faces up to four years in prison, was quoted as saying by Dogan.
Amnesty International on Monday called for “urgent action” to release Kilic and called on the government to end all prosecutions and detentions under a law that criminalises insulting the president.