The winner of Miss Turkey has been stripped of her crown after one of her past tweets came to light. Itir Esen, 18, had shared a post referencing last year’s coup attempt, comparing her menstrual cycle to the spilt blood of ‘martyrs’, BBC reported on Friday.
The organisers said the tweet was ‘unacceptable’ and confirmed their decision to dismiss her, just hours after she won. Esen has since said, via Instagram, that she was not being political. The tweet was posted around the first anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, when nearly 250 people died. She wrote: “I am having my period this morning to celebrate the July 15 martyrs’ day. I am celebrating the day by bleeding a representation of our martyrs’ blood.”