{"id":158658,"date":"2026-09-03T16:30:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/158658\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:30:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:30:24","slug":"former-pm-davutoglu-investigated-for-insulting-erdogan-in-2021-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/158658\/","title":{"rendered":"Former PM Davuto\u011flu investigated for \u2018insulting Erdo\u011fan\u2019 in 2021 remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into former prime minister Ahmet Davuto\u011flu on suspicion of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan in remarks that recently resurfaced on social media.<\/p>\n

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office said Thursday it had opened an\u00a0investigation\u00a0after examining social media posts containing statements it considered potentially insulting to the president.<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu, 67, is being investigated under Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which criminalizes insulting the president and carries a prison sentence of one to four years.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd34 Ahmet Davuto\u011flu (CB. Erdo\u011fan ve AK Parti h\u00fck\u00fcmeti hakk\u0131nda):<\/p>\n

Milyarlar\u0131na milyar katt\u0131lar, haram lokma yediler, \u00e7evrelerini zengin ettiler.<\/p>\n

Damad\u0131n\u0131 bakan yapt\u0131, akrabalar\u0131n\u0131 zengin etti, 5 m\u00fcteahhide T\u00fcrkiye’yi pe\u015fke\u015f \u00e7ekti. pic.twitter.com\/XqaCDzA93U<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 S\u00f6z\u00fcn \u00d6z\u00fc (@sozozun) September 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The remarks circulating online date back several years. The T24 news website reported in April 2022 that Davuto\u011flu made them while speaking with residents during a visit to the eastern province of Bing\u00f6l and posted a video of the exchange on Facebook on September 11, 2021.<\/p>\n

The video recently resurfaced on social media amid renewed controversy over the wealth and business holdings of former prime minister Binali Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m and his family.<\/p>\n

Journalist Timur Soykan said claims were circulating in Ankara that Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m had assets worth about \u20ac480 million and had come under pressure to relinquish some companies and bring money held abroad back to Turkey.<\/p>\n

Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m succeeded Davuto\u011flu as prime minister in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I hadn\u2019t objected, I wouldn\u2019t have lost the prime minister\u2019s office. I would have sat there and added billions to my wealth like the prime minister who came after me, like the ministers who came after me,\u201d Davuto\u011flu said in the video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them, \u2018Don\u2019t take illicit money.\u2019 They did. They enriched those around them. He made his son-in-law a minister, enriched his relatives and handed Turkey over to five contractors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu did not name Erdo\u011fan in the remarks, although his reference to making a son-in-law a minister was an apparent reference to Erdo\u011fan\u2019s appointment of Berat Albayrak, who is married to his daughter Esra, as energy minister in 2015 and later as finance minister.<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu\u2019s mention of \u201cfive contractors\u201d apparently referred to Cengiz Holding, Limak Holding, Kalyon Holding, Kolin Holding and Makyol, large construction groups that have secured major public infrastructure contracts during Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians, particularly Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu, who was\u00a0reinstated<\/a>\u00a0as chairman of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) by a court ruling in May, have frequently referred to the companies as the \u201cgang of five,\u201d accusing the government of favoring them in lucrative public tenders and public-private partnership projects.<\/p>\n

The companies and the government have denied allegations of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu was one of the most influential figures in Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during its first decade in power.<\/p>\n

An academic by training, he served as Erdo\u011fan\u2019s chief foreign policy adviser before becoming foreign minister in 2009. He was closely associated with Turkey\u2019s \u201czero problems with neighbors\u201d foreign policy and his concept of \u201cstrategic depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu became prime minister and AKP chairman in 2014 after Erdo\u011fan was elected president but resigned from both posts in May 2016 following growing disagreements with Erdo\u011fan over the management of the party and government.<\/p>\n

He left the AKP in 2019 before the party could expel him and founded the Future (Gelecek) Party later that year as a conservative alternative to Erdo\u011fan\u2019s increasingly centralized rule.<\/p>\n

The party struggled to establish a significant independent electoral base and performed poorly in the 2024 local elections.<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0in July that he was withdrawing from party politics and ending the Future Party\u2019s political activities, saying Turkey\u2019s political system had reached an impasse marked by polarization, fragmentation and declining ethical standards.<\/p>\n

The Future Party subsequently voted at an extraordinary congress on August 22 to dissolve itself.<\/p>\n

Davuto\u011flu said at the time that his withdrawal was not a surrender but an effort to establish \u201ca moral distance\u201d from what he described as a contaminated political environment.<\/p>\n

Article 299 has long been used to prosecute journalists, politicians, artists and ordinary social media users over remarks deemed insulting to Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n

A report\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that cases involving alleged insults to Erdo\u011fan accounted for 43.3 percent of 120 hearings monitored by the Media and Law Studies Association between January 2025 and May 2026, with journalists making up nearly two-thirds of defendants in cases involving insults to the president or public officials.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups have long criticized Article 299, arguing that the provision is incompatible with freedom of expression and is used to punish criticism of Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n

This article is republished from\u00a0Turkish Minute<\/a>.<\/p>\n