YouTuber, Twitch streamer and podcaster Ahmet Sonuç, known online as Jahrein, who was recently arrested on obscenity charges, has instigated a smear campaign against popular food influencer Betül Tunç, accusing her of links to the faith-based Gülen movement and calling for a witch hunt, the Velev news website reported on Tuesday.
The Gülen movement is accused by the Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of masterminding a failed coup on July 15, 2016 and is labeled a “terrorist organization,” although the movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
Pro-government internet trolls have initiated a smear campaign against Tunç, who lives in the US and operates the Turkuaz Kitchen account, which has 10.5 million followers on Instagram, 2.2 million on TikTok and 3.54 million subscribers on YouTube. It has been alleged that Tunç served a prison sentence of seven years, six months on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization” due to her alleged links to the movement.
“She can’t be allowed to continue, man. You can’t let her off easy,” Sonuç said in a statement targeting Tunç, also using profane language when referring to the food influencer.
Although 2018 news reports stated that a Sivas court sentenced a Betül Tunç to seven-and-a-half years in prison on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization,” many on social media have claimed that this person was not the food influencer but someone else with the same name.
Sonuç has also commented about Zeliha Akpınar, an internet celebrity who recently graduated from medical school in the UK. She recently became a target of pro-government Turkish trolls due to her father, Mahmut Akpınar, a dissident academic and critical journalist who sought refuge in the UK to escape imprisonment on fabricated terrorism charges.
The 53-year-old academic, also the author of several books on current affairs and one of Turkey’s top terrorism experts, previously lectured at Ankara’s Turgut Özal University before moving to the UK. The university was unlawfully shut down by the government in 2016, along with thousands of schools, associations, foundations, universities, hospitals and other institutions affiliated with the Gülen movement.
“Don’t get me wrong, but I can’t say his daughter is innocent in this matter and that she should go and live a wonderful life,” Sonuç said.
He added that if a witch hunt were to be started, it should be directed at members of “FETÖ,” a term coined by the Turkish government to refer to the faith-based Gülen movement as a terrorist organization, and their families.
“Bring the fire, I’ll be the first to light it if we’re having a witch hunt,” Sonuç said.
After an arrest on September 13 for engaging in “speech that is not in accordance with general morality and the values of society” during a live broadcast on the streaming platform Kick, where he had recently moved after years of streaming on Twitch, Sonuç was released pending trial a month later.
The remarks, deemed obscene, involved inappropriate discussions about family members and lewd suggestions regarding his own child. Turkish authorities charged him under Article 226 of the Turkish Penal Code, which pertains to obscenity.