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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lost a lawsuit for "violating personal rights" against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).
The president had demanded 500,000 lira (34,000 USD) from Kılıçdaroğlu for spiritual damages for his remarks against him during a speech at the parliament in June.
Celal Çelik, the attorney of Kılıçdaroğlu, announced the court verdict on Twitter. "Another lesson from the judiciary! Erdoğan lost again! Our chairperson won again!" he wrote.
"We have proved that [Kılıçdaroğlu's] words and criticisms had justified grounds and the case was concluded in our favor," the attorney wrote.
The court verdict showed that the following words of Kılıçdaroğlu "had justified grounds," the attorney wrote: "Erdoğan, you plotted against the army with the FETÖ ['Fetullahist Terrorist Organization,' the group held resonsible for the 2016 coup attempt] and opened the Cosmic Room [a place where the army's 'top secret' information is stored] to the FETÖ; you get orders from the Qataris, you serve the loan sharks whom you kneel before; you ignorant traitor."
What happened?
During his speech at his party's parliamentary group meeting on June 29, Kılıçdaroğlu had said, "Now I would like to address my brothers and sisters who support the AK Party and the MHP. How do Erdoğan and his family open accounts and set up companies in order not to pay taxes to Turkey? They don't pay a dime in tax to the state.
"... I'm talking about Man island. When informal [economy] gets bigger, bribes get bigger as well. Who gets bribes? Public officials. "
Kılıçdaroğlu was referring to his 2017 revelation about the Erdoğan family's offshore transactions, known as the "Documents of the Isle of Man."
The president had sued the opposition leader after these remarks, alleging that his personal rights had been violated. (EMK/VK)
