A popular Twitter user with the user name “JeansBiri” was identified and detained in Gaziantep province in southeastern Turkey on Thursday for starting a hashtag on the social media platform about a call from a pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) figure for the arming of party members.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued a detention warrant for the Twitter user, “JeansBiri,” who was identified as Ahmet Kemal A., on the grounds that he sought to provoke society with the hashtag “AKsilahlanma” (AKarmament), with a reference to the AKP’s name.
Ahmet Kemal A. is accused of membership in an “armed terrorist organization.”
Last week the chairman of the pro-AKP Ottoman Hearths 1453, Emin Canpolat, called on all supporters of the AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to take up arms in the event of a second coup attempt in Turkey.
Turkey experienced a failed coup attempt on July 15 that claimed the lives of more than 240 people and injured a thousand others.
“This is an announcement to all acting with us. Take up arms for the homeland, for our flag and for Erdoğan,” Canpolat wrote on his personal Twitter account last Thursday.
His message drew support from AKP trolls on Twitter, and the hashtag “AKsilahlanma” (AKarmament) was a trending topic on Twitter for many hours last Thursday.
Since then several AKP officials have been talking about arming their members in the event of attacks against them.