Turkish Seismologist Arrested on Charges of Incitement to Hatred, Media Reports

ISTANBUL (Sputnik) - Turkish police arrested Ahmet Ercan, a professor of geophysics at Istanbul Technical University, on charges of incitement to hatred after his posts on social media about alleged cases of rape of women following the devastating earthquakes in Turkiye, media reported on Tuesday.

Ercan was arrested after he wrote that women had allegedly been raped in the quake-hit areas in Turkey during the first two days following the disaster due to a late arrival of the military there, according to the Turkish broadcaster.

The tweet had already been deleted by the time of the professor's arrest, the broadcaster reported. The investigation into incitement to hatred was initiated on the prosecutor's instruction, the report said.

On February 6, massive magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes hit the province of Kahramanmaras and nearby areas in southeast Turkiye, killing over 44,000 people and destroying thousands of buildings. The initial underground shocks were followed by hundreds of aftershocks and were felt in 11 Turkish provinces, as well as in the neighboring countries, with Syria being the most affected.

Later in the month, some provinces of Turkiye were also hit by other earthquakes. Despite being less devastating, they still led to more destruction and an increase in the number of victims nationwide.