In Türkiye, a famous YouTuber had to leave the country urgently after criticizing Islam. Diamond Tema is accused of insulting the prophet during a broadcast. He is threatened with death.
YouTuber and researcher Diamond Tema, known for his videos on religion and philosophy, announced that he had left Turkish territory following threats of arrest regarding a program in which he participated.
Diamond Tema, from an Albanian family who settled in Turkey when he was a child and now lives in Albania, said in a video titled “Whoever tells the truth is handed over to the tribunal by nine villages”published Monday, that he would not let himself “to overcome” by those who targeted him.
“The next time I come to Turkey, if they want, they can arrest me, put me in prison, we can go to court, we can testify. There is no problem. But I didn’t want to experience this this week while this incident is on the agenda, while everyone wants me to die, while everyone wants me to be thrown out, I don’t want my pictures of me in handcuffs. shared on the Internet. I don’t want to make them happy. I don’t want them to say: “you saw that, look what the pagan has become.”. I won’t give them this pleasure.”Tema said, adding that he could come to Türkiye in four to five months.
“Whatever happens at that time, the incident will have calmed down. The incident will have calmed down and no one will care. But I will not let these guys bring me down, brother, in this matter There is no justice, there is no law, unfortunately there is no secularism… All this is just paper. I will not be defeated by their order and theirs. system” he added.
Diamond Tema also criticized the opposition parties in the video: “they do not react. I defend secularism and the Republic against a man who says that sharia must be established in this country. I defend this country”said Diamond Tema, who also issued a warning: “Today they are chasing me, they are silencing me; tomorrow it will be your turn.”
The YouTuber was recently invited to the YouTube channel “Yer6 Movie” and participated in a discussion program on “sharia” with social media star Asrin Tok. After the show, Diamond Tema shared on her X account the death threats made against her by radical circles and received a wave of support on social media.
Thousands of Turkish X users declared their support for Tema, and the hashtag “#DiamondTemaYalnızDeğildir”which they launched on Sunday evening, rose to the top of the trending list in Türkiye.
DiamondTema, who shared anonymous messages received on Telegram on his X account, including some death threats due to comments he made on the show, said: “They claim they are the embodiment of tolerance and seek means of violence when they cannot respond. They have already begun to organize.”
“Even if I don’t speak a quarter of what I know, men dream of destroying them. If we can speak without censorship, they will set up a tribunal of inquisition” added the YouTuber. “The clan of the man who propagandizes sharia in violation of the constitution is at ease, and because I defend secularism and the republic, they are carrying out an operation on the day of the holiday with a thousand men of the four arms.”
Diamond Tema also said: “go read the book you believe in instead of trying to darken my life. Instead of arresting me, refute the hadith books like Buhari. I only read passages from the book that you consider indisputably authentic, without adding or adapting a single word. If it is so difficult to confront your beliefs, you should at least respect those who did it, instead of hating them.
On the show, Diamond Tema used examples from Sahih al-Bukhârî, a collection of hadiths, one of the foundational texts of orthodox Sunni Islam, in his arguments against Tok, who argued that Turkey should be governed by strict religious rules.
Following the program broadcast on Yer6, Aslan Değirmenci, digital media coordinator of the Communications Directorate of the Presidency of the Republic, declared on his X account on Sunday evening that“an investigation was opened against the person named Diamond Tema, who insulted our Prophet, for the crimes of insulting part of the public and insulting religious values regulated in paragraphs 216/2 and 3 of the Turkish Penal Code “ and claims that a ban on access was requested for the broadcast.
Arrest warrant issued
Following these events, the Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç announced on his official X account this Tuesday that an arrest warrant had been issued against Diamond Tema for “public incitement to hatred and hostility”adding that the investigation was “meticulously carried out”.