Miss Turkey stripped of her crown over coup tweet

The winner of Miss Turkey 2017 has been stripped of her crown over a tweet she posted about last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey, just hours after winning the beauty pageant.

Itir Esen, 18, was awarded the beauty contest prize on Thursday but had her crown taken away hours later after a tweet she had made about the July 2016 coup attempt against president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerged.

On the one year anniversary of the military coup attempt in July 2017, Ms Esen, had shared a post on twitter referencing last year's coup attempt, comparing her menstrual cycle to the split blood of "martyrs". 

I got my period on the morning of the July 15 martyrs' day. I'm marking the day by bleeding as a representation of the martyrs' blood, Esen wrote.

The competition's organisers denounced her remarks as "unacceptable" and confirmed their decision to dismiss her.

We regret to inform that such a tweet has been posted by Itır Esen. It is not possible for the Miss Turkey Organization to promote such a post, when it aims to introduce Turkey to the world and contribute to its image," they said in a statement cited by Hurryiet Daily.

The organizers of the beauty pageant 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. 

Esen had reportedly denied the social media account was hers.

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

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.

Esen later responded with her own statement on social media saying:

I want to say that as a 18-year-old girl, I had no political aims while sharing this post.

I was raised with respect for the homeland and the nation, she added, apologizing for "being misunderstood".

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.