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Merve Buyuksarac, former Miss Turkey, convicted for insulting Erdogan on Instagram Former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac convicted for 'insulting Recep Tayyip Erdogan' on Instagram
(35 minutes later)
A court has convicted a former Miss Turkey of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through social media postings and sentenced her to a 14-month suspended sentence.  A model formerly crowned Miss Turkey has been convicted of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a social media post.
The court on Tuesday found 27-year-old model Merve Buyuksarac guilty of insulting a public official. She would serve the sentence if she reoffends.  Merve Buyuksarac, was handed a 14-month suspended sentence, meaning she will be sent to jail if she does anything in the period deemed to qualify as “reoffending”.
Buyuksarac, who was crowned Miss Turkey in 2006, was briefly detained for sharing a satirical poem on her Instagram account in 2014. Prosecutors deemed it to be insulting to Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time.  The 27-year-old, who won the Miss Turkey contest in 2006, was briefly detained for sharing a satirical poem on her Instagram account in 2014.
Since becoming president in 2014, Erdogan has filed close to 2,000 defamation cases under a previously seldom-used law that bars insulting the president.  Called 'The Master’s Poem’, it reportedly criticised Mr Erdogan then the Prime Minister - and adapts the country’s national anthem in its verses.
The trials have deepened concerns over deteriorating freedoms in the country that was once seen as a model of Muslim democracy.  “I shared it because I found it funny. I had no intention to insult President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” Ms Buyuksarac was quoted as saying at the time.
  Prosecutors deemed it to be insulting to Mr Erdogan, who has filed close to 2,000 defamation cases since becoming president in 2014, using a previously little-used law that bars insulting the president. 
More follows  Foreign leaders and international observers have raised concern over deteriorating freedoms in the country, where critical voices in the media and politics have been targeted by a wave of new laws and arrests cracking down on dissent.
  Additional reporting by AP