Article 299 (Turkish Penal Code)

Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code deems it illegal to "Insult the President of Turkey". A person who is sentenced for a violation of this article can be sentenced to a prison term between one and four years and if the violation was made in public the verdict can be elevated by a sixth.^[3] Prosecutions often target critics of the government, independent journalists, and political cartoonists.^[4] Between 2014 and 2019, 128,872 investigations were launched for this offense and prosecutors opened 27,717 criminal cases.^[5][6] Turkey's article 299 and article 125, which allows one party to sue for insult despite lack of sufficient evidence, are arguably used as strategic lawsuit against public participation, known internationally as SLAPP.^[7]

Article 299's prosecution have surged during Erdoğan's presidency.^[1][2]

Origins

Insulting the President has been prohibited since the promulgation of the Turkish Penal Code in 1926, but initially under the article 158 and a difference was made between an aggressive and a disrespectful publication.^[8] The first was seen as a serious violation, while the latter was punished with prison terms between six months and three years.^[8] The article was valid until June 2005.^[9]

History

In June 2005, article 158 was replaced with article 299, and the punishment was elevated to between one and four years.^[10] If the violation was made in public, the punishment shall be elevated by a sixth and in order a person can be prosecuted according to this article, the Ministry of Justice has to give its consent. During the presidency of Abdullah Gül, several hundred people were accused for having violated the article, more than five-hundred were prosecuted.^[10]

The prosecutions surged after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took office as president in 2014 and since, thousands of people have been investigated and sentenced for insulting the president.^[1][11]

In 2016, it was attempted to abolish Article 299.^[12] In the appeal to the Constitutional Court of Turkey it was advocated that in the past, insulting the president had a different juridic value than insults to other state employees but, since the transition from a government led by a prime minister to a government led by a president, the office of the president became evidently an important and executive political office and all state employees should be treated equally before the law.^[12] Furthermore, the article is contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights.^[10] The appeal was not successful as the Constitutional Court ruled in December 2016 that the article shall remain in the Turkish Penal Code as the President represents not only a person but the whole Turkish nation.^[12] It also deemed the law to be in accordance to the legal benefit and even though the law grants the right to criticize, it shall not tolerate insults.^[12]

Criticism

The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe criticized the application of the article in 2016.^[10] The European Court of Human Rights has frequently ruled that convictions violate Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.^[1]

Cartoonist Selçuk Erdem [tr], prosecuted under the law for a caricature of Erdogan, stated "someone going to court due to a cartoon is a very sad thing" and that government officials "don't have a sense of humour" and "don't want - or like - freedom of speech or criticism".^[13] CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu retweeted a cartoon deemed offensive, stating "You cannot stop criticism and humour by putting them in prison."^[1]

Prominent examples

Canan Kaftancıoğlu, a leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), was charged and sentenced for insulting the president in September 2019.^[14] She vowed to appeal the verdict. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the president of the CHP, was also sentenced for a tweet including a cartoon depicting several animals resembling Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the caption Land of Tayyip.^[15] Sebahat Tuncel of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), while imprisoned for another case, was sentenced to almost one year imprisonment for saying the president is an enemy of Kurds and women which was deemed an insult of the president by the court.^[16] Merve Büyüksaraç, the Miss Turkey of 2006 was delivered with a suspended fourteen months prison sentence for an Instagram post with a satirical poem about Erdoğan.^[17] An investigation was also initiated against a group of women who chanted the slogan "Jump, jump, you're Tayyip if you don't" during the International Women's Day on the 8 of March.^[6] In March 2021, Selahattin Demirtaş was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months imprisonment for having said Erdoğan “fluttered from corridor to corridor” in chase of a picture together with the Russian president Vladimir Putin.^[18] In April 2021 a new law entered into force which deprived students of the right to sleep at University dorms if they were sentenced for insulting the Turkish president.^[19][20]

Statistics

Year	Sued	Prison sentences	Comments
1982-2014	1,816	n.a.	^[21]
2014	132	40	^[1]
2015	1,953	238	^[1]
2016	4,187	884	^[1]
2017	6,033	2099	^[1]
2018	6,270	2,775	^[1]
2019	13,990	4,291	^[1]
2020	9,773	3,665	^[1]
Total	44,154	13,992

See also

• Insult of officials and the state

References

1. "Turkey: End Prosecutions For "Insulting President"". Human Rights Watch. 17 October 2018. from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
2. "Erdoğan sued 38,581 people for "insulting the president" in six years". Bianet. 27 August 2021. from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
3. "The Curious Case of Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code: Insulting the Turkish President". Verfassungsblog. 2018-07-20. from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
4. Eko, Lyombe (2019). "The Charlie Hebdo Affair in Turkey: Balancing Human Rights and Religious Rites". The Charlie Hebdo Affair and Comparative Journalistic Cultures: Human Rights Versus Religious Rites. Springer International Publishing. p. 208. ISBN 978-3-030-18079-9.
5. "Investigation Highlights Spike in Cases of Insulting Turkish President". Balkan Insight. 15 January 2021. from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
6. "Nearly 129,000 people probed for "insulting" Erdoğan in 5 years". www.duvarenglish.com. 2021-03-29. from the original on 2021-03-29. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
7. Akyavas, Renan. "Analysis: Turkey's judiciary and press freedom: Farewell to a fair trial". Free Turkey Journalists. from the original on 2021-04-11. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
8. Sarkar, Lotika (1965). "Review of The Turkish Criminal Code. The American Series of Foreign Penal Codes, 9". Journal of the Indian Law Institute. 7 (3): 279–283. ISSN 0019-5731. JSTOR 43949828. from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
9. "European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)". www.venice.coe.int. Venice Commission. 15 March 2016. p. 4. from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
10. "European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)". www.venice.coe.int. Venice Commission. 15 March 2016. p. 13. from the original on 17 December 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
11. "For insulting Erdogan, over 3,800 sentenced to prison in Turkey in 2019: Report". Al Arabiya English. 2020-09-16. from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
12. "Insulting the Turkish President: Article 299 and why Europe says its illegal". Ahval. from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
13. "The problem with insulting Turkey's President Erdogan". BBC News. 16 April 2015. from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
14. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Turkey: Opposition politician sentenced to 9 years in jail | DW | 06.09.2019". DW.COM. from the original on 2021-01-29. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
15. "Erdogan sues Turkey's main opposition leader over dictator remark". Reuters. 2016-01-18. from the original on 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
16. "Jailed Kurdish politician handed another year for insulting Turkey's Erdogan". SWI swissinfo.ch. from the original on 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
17. "Former Miss Turkey Sentenced for Insulting President Erdogan". Time. from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
18. "Turkish court sentences Demirtas to jail for insulting president: lawyer". Reuters. 2021-03-22. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
19. "Never insulted Erdogan? You're eligible to stay in a Turkish student dormitory". Arab News. 2021-04-10. from the original on 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
20. "University students convicted of insulting Erdoğan denied dormitory facilities". Ahval. from the original on 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
21. "Erdoğan sued 38.581 people for "insulting the president" in six years - english". from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2022-01-09.