The first hearing of the lawsuit against Nazım Kök, a party assembly member of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), was held on Thursday. The politician is accused of "insulting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan" on the social media during the state’s genocidal attacks in the Kurdish region in 2016.

Kök and his lawyer attended the hearing held on November 18 in the Nusaybin 1st Criminal Court of First Instance in Mardin province. During the hearing, Kök stated that he did not insult the president but just voiced criticism with his social media post in question, which said, “Ottoman Sultan Selim slaughtered 40 thousand Alevis. He himself [Erdoğan] is after making a name for himself by destroying Kurdish towns.”

The court sentenced Kök to 11 months and 20 days in prison, claiming that his social media post "offends Erdoğan's honour, dignity and prestige".