A mother and a son in İzmir province on Monday received a suspended sentence of 11 months, 20 days on charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Diken news website reported.
On March 23, 2017 Ayşe Gül Gürçen and her son had a spat with members of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) who visited their neighborhood to campaign for an April referendum in a minivan that had been blaring loud music.
Gürçen told the AKP members to stop playing the loud music because there were old and sick people in the neighborhood who needed to rest.
As it had sparked a heated discussion between the two parties, Gürçen finally threw a flowerpot from her balcony on the minivan, damaging the vehicle.
Both Gürçen and the AKP members were questioned by police about the incident, and the case went to court.
According to the AKP officials Gürçen had insulted President Erdoğan during the conversation, although Gürçen denied it.
More than 20,000 investigations were launched into Turkish citizens in 2017 on accusations of insulting Erdoğan.