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.
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.
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.