The court in Istanbul also acquitted Erdogan, who is living in exile in Germany, of disrupting the unity of the state, and dropped charges of spreading terror propaganda.
Erdogan, whose books have been translated into various different languages, was an occasional columnist for pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem which was shut down after the failed 2016 coup against
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
The court also acquitted two other defendants, including linguist Necmiye Alpay.
The 52-year-old Erdogan ‐ who is not related to the
She did not attend Friday's hearing but in a statement read by her lawyer Erdal Dogan, Erdogan said her columns did not contain any violent element.
"Their political content is limited to human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
violations," she said, adding that the accusations based on her literary texts "trampled on the values of both law and literature".
After the travel ban against Erdogan was lifted in June 2017, she has largely lived in self-imposed exile in Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and is currently in Berlin.
Her lawyer said she was abroad because she was suffering health problems as a result of her 2016 detention, and for a writing scholarship.
"She is not seeking asylum, she is abroad for a temporary period of time," he told AFP.
"She will not come to
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...today but of course she will return. Turkey is her homeland."
| Al Ahram adds: |
Asli Erdogan_ who is not related to President Erdogan _ was arrested in August 2016 with other staff members of the Ozgur Gundem newspaper, which the government accused of links to outlawed Kurdish rebels. She spent four months in prison before being freed pending the outcome of the trial.
Asli Erdogan, 52, was facing a maximum sentence of nine years and four months in prison.