ISTANBUL – The Turkish authorities on Tuesday seized and jailed a 16-year-old boy for drawing a moustache on an election campaign poster showing re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, media reports said.

Several media outlets close to the opposition, including daily newspapers BirGun, Cumhuriyet and private TV station Halk TV, said the youth from the south-eastern town of Mersin was accused of defacing the poster near his home with a pen, scribbling “a Hitler moustache and writing insulting comments”.

He was arrested after he was identified through CCTV camera footage, media reports said.

The authorities interviewed him at his home, where he reportedly “admitted drawing the moustache” while denying writing the accompanying comments.

Taken before the public prosecutor, he was found to have “insulted the president” and was jailed at a nearby youth facility, according to Halk TV.

Mr Erdogan extended his 20-year rule over Turkey after winning the May 28 second round of the presidential election to embark on a new five-year term.

According to the Justice Ministry, “insulting the president” is one of the most common crimes in Turkey, resulting in 16,753 convictions in 2022. AFP