A person who attributes a concrete act or event that could damage another person’s honor, dignity, and reputation, or who attacks another person’s honor, dignity, and reputation by insulting them, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of three months to two years or a fine. For the offense of insulting someone in their absence to be punishable, the act must be committed in the presence of at least three people.
PROTECTED LEGAL INTEREST
Looking at where the offense of insult is regulated in the Criminal Code No. 5237, we see that it is under the heading of offenses against honor. According to this regulation, the legal interest protected by this crime is the right to ‘honor, dignity, and reputation’ that a person possesses.
MATERIAL ELEMENT OF THE CRIME OF INSULT
The crime of insult is a free-form crime, therefore it can be committed in any way. What is important is that the behavior targets the victim’s reputation. Words and actions that could damage a person’s reputation can be committed by attributing a specific concrete situation or event, or by general and abstract words and actions. When examining the material element of the crime of insult, a twofold distinction must be made. The first is the attribution of a concrete act or event, and the second is verbal abuse. A concrete act or event refers to a material event. In other words, it is a factual situation that can be perceived from the outside world and can cause certain changes in the outside world.
MORAL ELEMENT OF THE CRIME OF INSULT
The moral element is a situation related to the inner world of the perpetrator. The moral element manifests itself in two ways: intent and negligence. The crime of insult is one that can be committed intentionally. This is because the victim’s honor can only be attacked if the perpetrator intends this result. The intent here is general intent; it is sufficient for the perpetrator to know that their behavior could damage the victim’s honor, dignity, and reputation and to want this to happen. It is sufficient for the perpetrator to want to commit the crime of insult; their motive is irrelevant.
PERPETRATOR OF THE CRIME
Any natural person can be the perpetrator of the crime of insult, but legal persons cannot be the perpetrators of this crime.7 Only natural persons who commit acts of insult can be held responsible for the acts of insult committed by those authorized to represent and manage a legal person. The liability of a natural person for the crime of insult depends on their criminal responsibility (ability to be held accountable). Persons who are unable to control their behavior due to mental illness, young age, or the existence of a temporary cause cannot be punished even if they are the perpetrators of the crime of insult.
VICTIM OF THE CRIME
Any person may be the victim of the crime of insult. Persons who cannot understand or comprehend the act of insult due to illness, age, mental illness, physical disability, or other reasons may also be victims of the crime of insult.
The dead cannot be victims of the crime of insult. This is because personality ceases with death, and the dead cease to be subjects of law. However, words spoken about the deceased and behavior directed at the corpse may constitute an attack on the dignity of the deceased’s relatives. In the case of an insult directed at the memory of a deceased person, essentially with the aim of protecting the dignity of the deceased’s relatives, Article 130/f. 1 of the Turkish Criminal Code, which aims to protect the dignity of the deceased’s relatives: “A person who insults the memory of a deceased person in the presence of at least three people shall be punished with imprisonment of three months to two years or a judicial fine. The penalty shall be increased by one-sixth if the insult is committed publicly.” For the act of insulting the memory of the deceased to be punishable, the condition that the crime be committed in the presence of at least three people is required.
Even if the victim’s name is not explicitly mentioned or the accusation is made in a veiled manner, if the nature of the offense and its targeting of the victim’s person are unambiguous, it shall be deemed that both the name has been mentioned and the insult has been made explicit.