Turkish media shared a TikTok video on its website, which it said led to the arrest. In the video, a young man throws and tears banknotes.
12:14•Updated 14:45
In Turkey, the police say they have arrested two Finns after a post they made on social media.
The Ankara Police Department said On Twitter (you will switch to another service)that those arrested had torn up Turkish liras in their social media post.
The persons are Finnish citizens born in Mogadishu, Somalia, who had arrived in Turkey for the EU’s Erasmus student exchange on Sunday, the release said.
According to the release, the police have started “legal measures”.
The Finnish embassy in Ankara has so far been unable to confirm information about the arrest to .
“You can’t just rip off our money”
Turkey’s DHA news agency shared a TikTok video on its website that it said led to the arrest. In the video, a young dark-skinned man throws and tears up banknotes, looking amused.
– Look, look, look! This is not money, the man says in the video in English, tearing up the banknote.
The TikTok user’s profile shows the video has since been deleted. According to Turkish police, the video was released on November 9. The user’s account also has videos in Finnish.
Two days ago, he published his latest video, in which Turkish TikTok users or trolls commented about ripping off money.
– Who do you think you are? You can’t just rip off our money?! If someone did the same, you would call them racist. You should be tactful, the commenter wrote.
In Turkey, you can get a prison sentence for posting on social media
In Turkey, arrests for social media posts are not unusual and can even result in imprisonment. According to the new law, spreading false information can result in a prison sentence of up to three years.
So far, it is not clear what the individuals are accused of or if they will be accused of anything. It is also possible that they will soon be deported from Turkey, as has often been the case with detained foreigners.