Turkish journalist goes to prison for tweeting the letter 'K'

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Turkish journalist goes to prison for tweeting the letter 'K'
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In Turkey, texting the letter "K" can apparently land you in prison. Önder Aytaç, a columnist who writes for a Turkish opposition newspaper, was sentenced to 10 months in prison Monday for "insulting public officials" because his tweet about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan contained that letter tacked onto the end of another word.

Posted in September 2012, the tweet was a response to Erdogan's plan to shutter private schools. In the message, "k" was added to the end of the Turkish word "ustam," meaning either "my chief" or "my master." It sounds innocuous enough, but the addition changed the message to mean "screw off." Business Insider has a screenshot of the tweet here.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.