Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit for one million Turkish Liras – about 21,000 euros at the current exchange rate – in compensation against the chairman of the main opposition party, Özgür Özel, for statements made during a protest and press appearance on 13 August in which the Turkish opposition leader allegedly made comments that constitute “insults against the President of the Republic”.
Turkish media reported that the lawsuit was filed on Thursday by Erdoğan’s lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, who would claim financial compensation for the comments made by özel on 13 August during a protest organised in the Bayrampaşa district – north of the city of Istanbul – and later in front of the Marmara prison, following a prison visit to jailed Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu and other members and mayors of the opposition CHP party serving pre-trial detention as part of a wider corruption investigation.
“Due to the inappropriate expressions and unfounded accusations against our President, a lawsuit for moral damages totalling 1 million Turkish Liras has been filed with the Ankara Civil Court of First Instance. In addition, a criminal complaint has been filed with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of insulting the President of the Republic,” Aydın said while announcing the grounds for the lawsuit.
In Türkiye, insulting the President of the Republic is a crime punishable by imprisonment; although the Turkish authorities claim that this law is necessary out of respect for the institution, Turkish opposition parties such as the CHP have repeatedly criticised the legislation as limiting freedom of expression. The lawsuit has been filed shortly after the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara itself launched a parallel investigation against the opposition leader, precisely for the crime of “insulting the President of the Republic”, due to the same statements.
Opposition mayor leaves CHP, joins Erdoğan’s party
The CHP party was dealt another blow yesterday when the mayor of the western Turkish city of Aydın announced that she was leaving the opposition party to join Erdoğan’s party, the AKP, although Özel himself had previously denied the news. “Although we have repeatedly sought solutions to the problems we face within the CHP, unfortunately we have been unable to solve them. From this moment on, I cease to share the same path as the CHP,” said Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu in a statement published on social media, in which he accused the CHP of “anti-democratic” and contrary to the law and “public morality” practices.
The controversial statements were made by Özgür Özel on 13 August, when the Turkish opposition leader accused Erdoğan of being behind the arrest and imprisonment of the arrested mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Özel further denied that the Istanbul mayor’s university degree was fake, and on the contrary claimed that fake university degrees “were awarded to people who were then assigned to public posts”, while claiming that the Turkish president himself was pressuring CHP party members with threats to join the AKP or face corruption investigations.
These and other comments quickly sparked outraged reactions from prominent members of the government and within the AKP party, who have accused the opposition leader of overstepping all lines by resorting to “defamation” and politically motivated “personal attacks”.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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