The prosecutions surged after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took office as president in 2014, and since, thousands of people were investigated and sentenced for insulting the president.[7][8] In 2016, it was attempted to abolish Article 299 and an appeal was made to the Constitutional Court of Turkey.[9] In the appeal it was advocated that in the past, insulting the president had a different juridic value than insults to other state employees but, since the transition from a government led by a prima minister to a government led by a president, the office of the president became evidently an important and executive political office and all state employees should be treated equally before the law.[9] Furthermore, the article is contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights.[4] The appeal was not successful as the Constitutional Court ruled in December 2016 that the article shall remain in the Penal Code as the President represents not only a person but the whole Turkish nation.[9] It also deemed the law to be in accordance to the legal benefit and even though the law grants the right to criticize, it shall not tolerate insults.[9]