An Istanbul resident, who posted an image displaying a copy of the Holy Quran under her feet on her Twitter account, will stand trial on charges of openly inciting the population to hatred and hostility.
Acting on the prosecutor's order, officers from the Istanbul cyber crime unit found the home in Istanbul in which she is residing and identified her as Gülbeyaz Atik. The police confiscated her personal computer and mobile phone while searching her home.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Mehmet Görmez, the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, or Diyanet, have been involved in the case, while several NGOs have reportedly made criminal complaints against Atik, who tweeted the provocative material on her account, dubbed ‘cat lice’.
Some social media users called for legal prosecution against Atik under Article 216th of the Constitution, while samples of the petition for a criminal complaint have been circulated on the popular micro blogging site.
