Miss Turkey stripped of her crown over anti-Erdogan comment

18-year-old Itir Esen is accused of making flippant comment about people who died fighting off coup against Turkish President

The winner of Miss Turkey 2017 has been stripped of her crown over a tweet she posted about last year’s coup attempt.

Itir Esen, 18, was awarded the beauty contest prize on Thursday but had her crown taken away hours later after it emerged she had commented on the July 2016 attempt to topple the government of Turkey’s controversial president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ms Esen is said to have posted on the one-year anniversary of the coup making inappropriate comments about the 250 people who were killed opposing the attempted overthrow, which was swiftly crushed.

Miss Turkey organisers said they had spent a “long time” investigating whether the tweet was genuine and, after deciding that it was, opted to withdraw the award from Ms Esen. The contestant had reportedly denied the social media account was hers.

Can Sandıkçıoğlu, president of Miss Turkey, said: “We regret to inform you that this tweet has been posted by Itır Esen. 

“It is not possible for the Miss Turkey organisation, which aims to promote Turkey and contribute to its image worldwide, to accept such a post.”

Miss Turkey organisers said they had spent a “long time” investigating whether the tweet was genuine and, after deciding that it was, opted to withdraw the award from Ms Esen. The contestant had reportedly denied the social media account was hers.

Can Sandıkçıoğlu, president of Miss Turkey, said: “We regret to inform you that this tweet has been posted by Itır Esen. 

“It is not possible for the Miss Turkey organisation, which aims to promote Turkey and contribute to its image worldwide, to accept such a post.”

Following the decision, the second-place contestant, Asli Sumen, was crowned Miss Turkey 2017. She will now represent the country in the Miss World contest, which will take place in China in November.

Mr Erdogan has clamped down on opposition since the failed coup attempt. He has been criticised by international observers for a string of measures, included imposing a state of emergency and thereby suspending many of the powers of the country’s parliament and judiciary.