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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Selçuk Bayraktar, the president's son-in-law and the head of the Baykar Defense company, have filed lawsuits against journalists.
After Erdoğan filed a lawsuit, prosecutors have indicted Ender İmrek, a columnist for daily Evrensel, for "insulting the president" as per article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code.
The lawsuit concerns an article of İmrek about last year's massive wildfires, which caused widespread criticism towards the government because of the lack of firefighting aircraft.
In the article, İmrek questioned how many firefighting planes could have been bought with the money spent for "eight of 13 planes" belonging to the presidency.
Deposing at the courthouse, İmrek said his intention was not to insult the president or any other state official and his article was within the scope of the freedom of the press.
Yet the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office indicted the columnist, after which, İmrek wrote on Twitter, "They want to silence us. Another lawsuit has been filed for insulting the president... There is not a single criminal element in the article. They put the article in the indictment as it was and the charge is insulting the president."
İmrek previously stood trial for insulting Erdoğan and his spouse, Emine Erdoğan.
Lawsuit by Bayraktar
Bayraktar has filed a lawsuit against Halk TV demanding compensation for immaterial damages.
During the episode of the "Sözüm Var" program on February 16, Şirin Payzın, the host of the program, asked questions about Baykar Defense, which produces drones for the army, to Ahmet Kamil Erozan, an İYİ (Good) Party MP and a former diplomat.
The questions and the MP's answers damaged his personal rights and included insults against him, Bayraktar alleged. He demands 150,000 lira from Payzın and Halk TV.
CLICK - BİA Media Monitoring Database
Trials for 'insulting the president' in TurkeySince 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the president, investigations have been launched against over 160 thousand people for "insulting the President". More than 35 thousand turned into court cases. In these trials, over 38 thousand people and more than a thousand children appeared before the judge. The number of cases during Erdoğan's first 4-year term in office increased by 19.5 times and by 2,052 percent when compared to the term of former President Abdullah Gül. In the trials, 12 thousand 881 people have been convicted, 3 thousand 625 people, including 10 children, have been sentenced to prison. In 2020 alone, 45 thousand investigations were launched against people on the charge of "insulting the President" and lawsuits were filed against 9 thousand 773 people as a result of these investigations. According to the BİA Media Monitoring Report published on January 10, 2022, and covering the months of October-November-December 2021, at least 22 journalists and cartoonists were faced with this charge in this period. According to the BİA Media Monitoring 2021 Annual Report, from August 2014, when Erdoğan was elected the President, to January 1, 2022, at least 70 journalists were given prison sentences, deferred prison sentences and/or fines for "insulting the President". Article 299 of the Turkish Penal CodeA person convicted of "insulting the president" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is sentenced to 1 year to 4 years in prison. If the offense is committed publicly, the sentence is increased by one sixth. Prosecution on this charge is subject to the permission of the Justice Ministry. However, it is regarded as a formality and it is not known, according to the reports, whether there is any person for whom no permission has been granted by the Ministry to be prosecuted on this charge. |
(HA/VK)
