Journalist faces probe for ‘derogatory’ remark targeting former main opposition leader

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into journalist and writer Mine Kırıkkanat over a social media post in which she used a “derogatory” expression about former main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, sparking condemnation from politicians and civil society groups, the Anka news agency reported.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened an investigation on suspicion of “inciting hatred and hostility among the public or degrading a segment of society” under Article 216 of the Turkish Penal Code.

According to prosecutors, the investigation concerns a post shared on X on April 29 from Kırıkkanat’s account in which she reposted a message criticizing former Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kılıçdaroğlu and added the phrase “kılıç artığı.”

The term “kılıç artığı,” literally meaning “a leftover of the sword,” is widely regarded as derogatory and historically used for survivors of massacres and forced deportations during the late Ottoman era. Today it is often considered hate speech targeting minorities, particularly Alevis and Armenians.

Kılıçdaroğlu is an Alevi.

Kırıkkanat later deleted the post and apologized, saying she had not known the historical meaning of the phrase and had intended it as a reference to Kılıçdaroğlu’s surname, which derives from the Turkish word for sword.

“I sincerely apologize to my Alevi friends. I did not know the history of the phrase ‘kılıç artığı.’ I used the expression in reference to Kılıçdaroğlu’s surname. Please forgive my ignorance,” she said in a statement on X.

Alevi dostlardan içtenlikle özür dilerim. Kılıç artığı sözünün tarihçesini bilmiyordum. Bu sözü, Kılıçdaroğlu’nun soyadına atfen söyledim. Cehaletimi bağışlayın🙏

— Mine G. Kırıkkanat (@mkirikkanat) April 25, 2026

In a later newspaper column titled “Explanation and apology” in the left-wing and secular Cumhuriyet newspaper, Kırıkkanat said she had wanted to criticize Kılıçdaroğlu over claims that he had indirectly supported the abolition of the nationalist student oath.

She repeated that she had been unaware of the phrase’s association with historical atrocities.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) removed the student oath from schools in 2013 in line with a settlement process launched to resolve Turkey’s longstanding Kurdish problem, though the process later failed. The oath had long been criticized for its ultranationalist and exclusionary content.

The journalist later announced that she was taking a break from writing following the backlash, saying “You won, villains! … I lost, I’m stepping back.”

Kırıkkanat said on X on Wednesday that she had personally called Kılıçdaroğlu to apologize and thanked him for the “maturity” he showed during the conversation.

The remark prompted criticism from opposition figures and Alevi organizations. CHP leader Özgür Özel condemned the comment last week and described it as “an outrageous attack” on the party’s former chairman.

Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP from 2010 to 2023, publicly spoke about his Alevi identity for the first time during the 2023 presidential campaign, in what was widely seen as a landmark moment in a country where Alevis have long faced discrimination and where cemevis, their houses of worship, still lack full official recognition.