Turkey arrests student for insulting Erdogan

A 16-year-old high school student has been arrested in central Turkey for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by accusing him and his ruling party of corruption, according to local media reports.

The young boy, who was identified with his initials MEA by the Turkish media, was arrested on Wednesday at his high school in the central Turkish city of Konya. 

He was delivering a speech on Wednesday in the central Anatolian city of Konya, a bastion of Erdogan’s conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), in memory of a young secular teacher killed in 1930, according to the Turkish media.

The boy is now facing up to four years in prison if convicted on the charge, reports said.

Turkey’s government faced an unprecedented wave of protests in 2013 against what protesters say authoritarian and conservative policies of Erdogan, who was then prime minister.

The AKP government and business circles close to the party was shaken by a vast corruption scandal last December that dragged down four ministers facing accusations of bribery and influence-peddling.

Erdogan, who was elected president in August, accused his former ally-turned-foe, US-based Muslim leader Fethullah Gulen, of concocting the corruption scandal.