Lawsuit against CHP Chair: Erdoğan demands 1 million lira in damages

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Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit for damages against main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on the grounds that he called him "the so-called President" in a speech.

Hüseyin Aydın, an attorney for Erdoğan, has argued that the speech held by Kılıçdaroğlu on the occasion of January 10 Working Journalists Days tarnished the honor, dignity and respectability of Erdoğan.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Aydın has said:

"On the grounds of his unfair and groundless allegations and accusations targeting our Mr. President in that statement, a suit for damages of 1 million lira [approx. 133 thousand US dollars] has been filed against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at the Ankara Civil Court of First Instance considering that the honor, dignity and respectability of our Mr. President were tarnished and his personal rights were severely violated."

According to Aydın, the remarks of Kılıçdaroğlu constituted the crime of "insulting the President" as per the Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). He has also appealed to Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and filed a complaint against Kılıçdaroğlu for "insulting the President."

What did Kılıçdaroğlu say?

Main opposition CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu held a press conference at the CHP Central Office in the capital city of Ankara on the occasion of January 10 Working Journalists Day in Turkey on Sunday.

In his speech there, CHP Chair Kılıçdaroğlu said that the Press Advertising Agency (BİK) fined five newspapers by cutting their public ads for 333 days "because they reported true news." He then briefly added:

"If the Press Advertising Agency turns into a 'press execution agency' in a sense, we need to stop and think for a minute. What kind of democracy and media do they want to create? Again, in 2020, if the so-called President of a country could directly target a newspaper and say, 'I don't read that newspaper; don't buy and read that newspaper', just think about the tutelage and pressure on the media in that country.

"It is not an ordinary person who says this. The person sitting at the very top seat governing the country says this. This is a first in our Republican history; these remarks were made in the 21st century. If the TV channels telling the truth are fined by 10-day blackout and 54 sanctions, we need to stop and think. Because they write, tell, talk about and discuss the truths....

"If 1,775 radio and television channels could not report the resignation of the Minister of Treasury and Finance for 27 hours because they were not given an instruction to do so, we need to stop and think there."

10 Ministers denounced the remarks

According to the state-run AA, the remarks of Kılıçdaroğlu have also been denounced by Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Treasury and Finance Lütfi Elvan, Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk and Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank. (EKN/SD)