Serhat Albayrak Sues Daily Evrensel, Demands 200 Thousand Liras for Damages

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Serhat Albayrak, the Deputy Board Chair of Çalık Holding and Turkuvaz Media Group, has filed a lawsuit for damages against the daily Evrensel, demanding 200 thousand liras (~35,300 US dollars).

He sued the newspaper over an article by columnist Ceren Sözeri titled, "Who made the AKP lose votes?". The article published on April 7 was about the results of the March 31 local elections.

The first hearing of the case where Albayrak claims he suffered commercial damages because of the article will be held at İstanbul Commercial Court of First Instance on March 4, 2020.

Sözeri: I criticized Anadolu Agency after the election

Saying that her article was focused on the state-run Anadolu Agency, Sözeri told bianet, "Serhat Albayrak did not condescend to debate the matter on the basis of freedom of thought and opened the lawsuit at the commercial court. My two sentences made Albayrak suffer 200 thousand liras of damages."

"The article I wrote said that the manipulative reports produced by the media close to the AKP did more harm than good to the AKP. There was also a very short section in the article proving that false news were produced by this media group.

"In my article, I mentioned only these and that Serhat Albayrak is the head of the group. There is not even a direct reference to him in the article. But the case was opened on the grounds that I undermined Albayrak's commercial reputation. Because there is no jail in commercial cases, there is monetary fine. They try to tame dissident journalists with fines, they use them as a mechanism of censorship.

"How can the two sentences I wrote can cause damage of 200 thousand liras to an executive who does not have a share in the company? This can only mean, 'Don't report about us'. We will see at the court how he lost 200 thousand liras."

(HA/VK)