Court Rejects Istanbul Mayor’s Lawsuit Against Journalists

Bakırköy 8^th District Court rejected a lawsuit by Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbaş for 40,000 lira damages regarding two news articles revealing the commercial relations of his family.  

The aforementioned articles appeared on Çağdaş Tuzla news website and Birgün newspaper respectively. Defendants Halil Özen and İbrahim Çeşmecioğlu (editor-in-chief of Birgün newspaper) were accused of the articles entitled “Topbaş’s unlicensed wrench lies by the river” and “Topbaş’s partners face prosecution for unlicensed wrench”. 

While the verdict was issued on March 21, the news broke yesterday. The verdict underlined that, in case of conflict between press freedom and individual values, public good is taken into consideration. 

Published on September 8 and 13, 2009 respectively, the aforementioned articles informed that Saray Çiftliği, a wrench owned by mayor Topbaş’s cousins, was located in Ömerli Water Reservoir with no licensing - for which cousins faced prosecution previously. It also claimed that the wrench provided goods for  Saray Muhallebicisi, a restaurant chain run by Topbaş family. 

What happened?

In 2009, a heavy rain caused floods on Istanbul’s rivers, leaving 31 dead. 

“We will demolish whatever is occupying Ayazma river. We will reopen every single river basin in the city. We will not tolerate this again,” Kadir Topbaş said. 

Later on, it also turned out that the Family Topbaş Wrench was located on Değirmen River Basin. (EÖ/HK/BM)