Quick Facts
Biography
Merve Büyüksaraç is a beauty queen and model who won the Miss Turkey title in 2006. In 2016, Büyüksaraç was sentenced to prison in Turkey on the charge of insulting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Biography
Büyüksaraç was crowned Miss Turkey in 2006 and works as a model.
Büyüksaraç allegedly posted a satirical poem on Instagram in 2014 which was then shared thousands of times on social media, and prosecutors found the poem to be insulting. The trial in the city of Istanbul began in May 2016 and was decided at the end of the month. Her sentence was suspended on condition that she does not "reoffend" within the next five years. Her lawyers are appealing the verdict. Groups that support free speech have criticized the decision. According to a report in the BBC, 2,000 people have been prosecuted for insulting Erdogan since 2014, and the list of persons charged includes children as well as celebrities. Büyüksarac reposted The Master's Poem in 2014 not for the purpose of insulting the president, she said, but because "it was funny."