Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı, a prominent and controversial journalist, was detained on Thursday on charges of disseminating disinformation. Kütahyalı had raised eyebrows after a tweet on Wednesday, in which he claimed that authorities would appoint a trustee to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which is under investigation over a shady intraparty election. Kütahyalı has claimed that security forces in the capital, Ankara, were reinforced “against a likely uprising” over the decision.
Kütahyalı’s manipulative tweet faced sharp criticism, with some social media users and fellow journalists accusing him of attempting to harm the volatile stock exchange at a time when the CHP was making similar attempts to damage the Turkish economy through boycott calls.
Authorities were quick to dismiss Kütahyalı’s claims and announced an investigation into Kütahyalı’s tweet. Hours later, media outlets reported that he was detained in the northern province of Bolu. Ironically, just a few days earlier, the province’s mayor, Tanju Özcan from CHP, had posted a controversial tweet inviting Kütahyalı to “an animal shelter” his municipality built. Özcan, angered over Kütahyalı’s earlier statements, in which he warned the CHP to avoid confrontation with police (following days of riots incited by the party), pledged Kütahyalı would be “taken good care of in the shelter if you do not bore your fellows there,” in a thinly veiled insult.
Authorities also announced an investigation into social media accounts disseminating similar disinformation. Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has branded Kütahyalı “a devil” without openly naming him. “Those immorally sharing speculations that CHP would be appointed trustees, those misleading the public, are devils among us. Their intentions are not good,” Bahçeli said in a written statement on Thursday.
