The $5 T-shirt that could get you detained in Turkey

In Saudi Arabia it's a miniskirt that will get you arrested; these days in Turkey, it is a not-so-basic white T-shirt bearing a particular four-letter word: H-E-R-O. Wearing it, Turkish authorities believe, signals support for the people accused of plotting to overthrow this country's government. A young man and woman out for a motorcycle ride on Saturday became the latest people swept up in the government's detentions after being spotted on traffic cameras, wearing the T-shirt that so angers authorities here. Police tracked them down on a university campus in Antalya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, before taking them into custody for questioning. The pair reportedly told police they had no idea about the controversy and haven't been following the news.

In another case, a waiter, also in Antalya, was reported to police by his colleagues for coming to work wearing the T-shirt. Why has a cheap top created so much uproar? Psychiatrist Cemal Dindar puts it this way: "The feeling that we're living in a secure time and place is gradually being eroded."
In a post-coup attempt reality, people are looking for clear answers, and in the absence of them, clinging to whatever they can to prove their points.
The T-shirt scandal started July 13, when a former army officer accused of being part of the attempted coup last summer appeared before a judge wearing a white shirt with a black rectangle emblazoned with big block letters. Beneath "HERO", in smaller font, is the phrase "Heroes are Immortal."
The initial outrage was over the word's literal meaning. Survivors of the coup attempt and their supporters carried signs saying "Criminals can't be heroes!" outside the courthouse. Suspects appearing in court in Turkey aren't forced to wear orange jumpsuits — as they were by the U.S. government at the prison on Guantanamo Bay — and supporters of the current government believe that proves how just and magnanimous the Turkish leadership is.
Pro-government media have published articles alleging the mass-market message-T is actually a coded, conspiratorial and dangerous message:  "Hoca Efendi Rahat Ol" which translates to "No Need to Worry, Sir Teacher."
Hoca in this context means religious teacher, and government supporters are pushing the idea that anyone who wears the shirt is trying to send a message to Fethullah Gulen.
Serious questions that need to be answered in the courts and by the country's top politicians are being drowned out, Dindar says.
"Constructing fantasies," or controversies around things like T-shirts, "is an obstacle to actually discussing the real problem," he says.
But the T-shirt problem is being handled quite swiftly. Turkish clothing chain Defacto has pulled the product from its online store and from its store shelves.