Minister of transport sues İstanbul mayor for 'attack on personal rights'

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Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu has sued İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu for "attack on personal rights," demanding 250,000 lira (17,000 US dollars) for immaterial damages.

The mayor made "false accusations that included slander" against the minister during a TV program on Friday (April 8), the minister's attorney, Ömer Faruk Karagüzel, alleged in the statement of claim.

İmamoğlu did not support his claims with any documents and acted with intent to slander, hence violating the personal rights of Karaismailoğlu, the lawyer claimed.

The mayor also falsely claimed that there was a court case for "misappropriation" against Karaismailoğlu, and, by doing that, he intended to mislead the public, the lawyer further stated.

"My client has never made undeserved money in any business, especially when it comes to the expenditures made in the name of the nation," he stated.

Recalling İmamoğlu's remarks addressing the minister that "You haven't even built a guard shack," the lawyer noted the recent opening 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world, and said, "... the attempt to humiliate [Karaismailoğlu] shows that this lawsuit is justified,"

For all these reasons, the lawyer said the mayor should pay 250,000 liras for damages to the minister.

The argument

The mayor's remarks against the minister came in response to his criticism of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality's (IMM) increase of public transport fares and his comments about İstanbul's Atatürk Airport, which is closed to commercial passenger flights.

İmamoğlu, a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said during the program on Halk TV that "the minister of transport is a miserable man. This miserable man who didn't even build a guard shack in his life says, it's the 'end of discussion for Atatürk Airport'."

The mayor previously said the airport should reopen.

He also said the municipality completed subway projects that were canceled by Karaismailoğlu despite the public banks not giving out loans to the IMM.

The minister should give an account of the "case for misappropriation" against him, the mayor said, without specifying his claims. (TP/VK)