A lecturer at a university in northwestern Turkey has been arrested due to his sexist remarks about women who were taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas following its attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, the Presidential Communications Directorate has announced.
The directorate’s digital media coordinator, Aslan Değirmenci, announced that Dr. Bekir Yüksel Hoş, a lecturer at the Balkan Research Institute of Trakya University in Edirne, has been arrested on charges of fomenting hatred and enmity among the public and spreading misleading information.
Hoş attracted widespread criticism on the X social media platform when he posted photos of women taken hostage by Hamas and said Hamas seemed to have selected them for an “Elite Model” fashion event.
He said Hamas took the most attractive Israeli women hostage and that it was a pity for the young men in the country.
Anti-Israel sentiment is running high in Turkey, with widespread protests taking place against Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza.
Large crowds demonstrated in İstanbul and the Turkish capital of Ankara this week, shouting pro-Palestinian sentiments.
Israel has told its citizens to leave Turkey “as soon as possible” amid fears of reprisal and temporarily called back all its diplomats from Turkey over security concerns on Thursday.
Israel began pounding Gaza after Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented surprise attack in Israel on Oct. 7 that claimed more than 1,400 lives.
Israeli’s retaliatory strikes have taken the lives of at least 4,000 civilians in Gaza so far, according to Hamas.
The Hamas-Israeli conflict came at a time when Turkey was just normalizing its relations with Israel after years-long tension.