Turkish man detained for X post critising Russia and Türkiye’s discord ban

A Turkish citizen, Kadir Ipek, has been detained by authorities in Türkiye following a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he harshly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin. The post came in response to Russia’s recent ban on Discord, a popular communication platform.

In his message, Ipek used profane language, referring to Putin as a “dictator” and accusing him of doing nothing but imposing bans during his decades-long rule.

Although the post directly mentioned Putin, it is speculated that Ipek was detained because the message was intended to target President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This speculation arises due to the timing of Ipek’s post, which coincided with Türkiye’s own ban on Discord. However, officials have not confirmed whether Erdoğan was the intended target.

A Twitter account, claiming to be a friend of Ipek’s, shared details of his detention, saying that Ipek was called while at a hospital and told by police, “Stay there, we are coming to get you.” The account also noted that Ipek would be held in police custody overnight.

“We hope he will be released after giving his statement,” the friend wrote. Ipek is expected to remain in custody in the city of Samsun and will likely appear before a prosecutor the following day.