Turkish prosecutors have filed an indictment seeking up to three years in prison for social media influencer Murat Övüç, who was arrested in December on charges of “inciting hatred and hostility” after posting a video in which he covered his hair with a headscarf.
According to the Bianet news website, the Küçükçekmece Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in İstanbul submitted the indictment to a criminal court on Friday, 46 days after Övüç’s arrest on December 20, 2025. Prosecutors requested that his pretrial detention continue.
Övüç is accused under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes publicly inciting segments of society to hatred and hostility and carries a sentence of one to three years in prison.
According to the indictment the investigation began after a social media account shared a video showing Övüç wearing a headscarf, accompanied by commentary highlighting a diamond ring he displayed toward the camera. Prosecutors alleged that the video mocked the headscarf, which they described as an important religious obligation in Islam.
The indictment states that Övüç, who identifies himself as gay and is widely known on social media, used “effeminate gestures” while wearing the headscarf and that the video, due to his public profile, reached wide audiences and posed a “clear and imminent danger” to public order and social peace.
The court has not yet set a trial date.
Turkey has in recent years prosecuted a range of individuals, including journalists, artists and social media users, under laws criminalizing insults to religious values or incitement to hatred. Critics say such provisions have been used more frequently during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule to pursue dissidents and government critics.