Bilgin Çiftçi, a physician and civil servant, was fired from his job and is on trial for comparing photos of Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" with Turkey's president Recep Erdogan.
Insulting president Recep Erdogan is a crime in Turkey.
"Lord of the Rings" director, Peter Jackson, has offered a defence for Dr Çiftçi, pointing out the photos are all of Sméagol, Gollum’s benign alter ego.
Russian President Vladimir Putin used his state of the nation speech on Thursday to threaten further reprisals against Turkey, as the clash continued to escalate between the two countries over the downing a Russian warplane and death of two Russian servicemen last month.
“If someone thinks they can commit a heinous war crime, kill our people and get away with it, suffering nothing but a ban on tomato imports, or a few restrictions in construction or other industries, they’re delusional,” Putin told a Kremlin hall full of top Russian officials in a speech broadcast on national television.
“Allah only knows, I suppose, why they did it. And probably, Allah has decided to punish the ruling clique in Turkey by taking their mind and reason,” he said.
“We’ll remind them of what they did, more than once. They’ll regret it. We know what to do.” Russia says the shooting down of its Su-24 bomber on Nov. 24 over the Turkish-Syrian border was illegal and a betrayal. Moscow has imposed a package of economic sanctions on Turkey and accused the country's leaders of collusion with terrorists. — themoscowtimes.com |
