Spanish
An ex-MP of the Islamist AKP party, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested this Tuesday, a day after denouncing corrupt practices and favoritism, accused of insulting the head of state.
Hüseyin Kocabıyık, who was expelled from the party last March after criticizing Erdogan, announced today on social media that he has been arrested, while the newspaper Cumhuriyet has reported that the Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation against him for alleged insults to the President of the Republic.
Kocabıyık gave an interview to Cumhuriyet, critical of the Government, yesterday, in which he stated that the AKP "gives something to everyone".
The former deputy assured in that talk that his wife was appointed governor of a province, but that she was later removed because he opposed "certain things".
"That's how the system works. That's why people stay silent," he stated in the interview.
Kocabıyık uploaded a message to social media on March 19th denouncing the arrest of the social democratic mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and questioning Erdogan.
"Was this the future we fought for? Did we fight in the courts for years for this? In fact, you have staged a coup against yourself without realizing it!"
Three days later, Kocabıyık was summoned by the disciplinary committee of the AKP, which has governed Turkey since 2002, and on March 26th he was expelled from the party.
