Police in Turkey have arrested a transgender influencer over a TikTok video showing her apparently flushing a TRY 100 banknote – worth less than GBP 5 – down the toilet.
Mika Can Raun was seized by officers from the Turkish police’s cybercrime department in Istanbul on 24th October.
Officials say flushing the banknote – which bears the image of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – was an insult to the state.
The TikTok video showed Mika miming along to a song before seemingly dropping a TRY-100 note into the pan and flushing it away.
She was questioned on accusations of ‘insulting the signs of the sovereignty of the state’ before being released on conditional bail.
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In her statement, she reportedly said: “I did not act with the intention of committing any disrespect or crime against the Republic of Turkey.
“I have no intention of insulting Ataturk or our national values.”
Mika – whose legal name is Mikail Can Kurnaz – also denied dropping the banknote into the toilet and flushing the chain.
Although the video apparently suggests she did, the note is never actually seen in the toilet bowl.
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The influencer – who boasts more than a million followers across social networks – remains under investigation by authorities.
LGBT people widely report facing discrimination in Turkey, despite its relatively progressive stance on such issues compared to most other Muslim-majority nations.