Binali Erdoğan, a camera operator working for the state-owned TRT, is tried for allegedly “insulting the President of the Republic” through social media. Erdoğan was arrested and he was released 32 days after. He faces the 4 years and 8 months of imprisonment. In September 2018, Erdoğan was sentenced to 10 months of imprisonment and the execııtion of the sentence was suspended.
19 September 2025
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the dismissal of Binali Erdoğan, chief cameraman at TRT, from public service on the grounds of “insulting the President” constituted a violation of freedom of thought and expression. The Court ordered Turkey to pay Erdoğan 7,600 euros in compensation. Erdoğan had been detained between 20 October and 20 November 2017, dismissed from public service, and sentenced to a suspended 10-month prison term under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code. The Constitutional Court had previously rejected his individual application (no. 2019/1980, decision of 10 October 2019) as “manifestly ill-founded.”