Former Turkish beauty queen faces two years in jail for 'insulting' president

Wellington: A former Turkish beauty queen could face imprisonment for two years over an "insulting" Instagram post. Prosecutors allege that Merve Buyuksarac, who won Miss Turkey in 2006, insulted the Turkish president in a post from last summer.

While the post has since been deleted, Hurriyet Daily News describes it as a satirical text titled The Master's Poem, Stuff.co.nz reported. Last month, the former beauty queen was reportedly questioned by police about the poem critical of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

She said that she did not precisely recall the content that she shared on her Instagram account, adding that she may have taken excerpts from Twitter, other social media websites or the cartoon magazine Uykusuz that had originally published the poem.

She further said that she did not intend to insult Erdogan and that she shared the post because she found it funny.

If found guilty, Buyuksarac could face up to two years in jail.