Presidency to pay damages to main opposition CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu

* Photo: Güven Yılmaz / AA

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has won the lawsuit that he filed after the information about the alleged profiling at the Social Security Institution (SSK) Directorate General was stored in the archive of the Prime Ministry and the related information was then leaked to the now-closed Bugün newspaper.

13 years after the incident, the Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers of the Council of State has overturned the ruling of the local court that dismissed the suit filed by Kılıçdaroğlu over the related profiling allegedly undertaken by the Western Working Group (BÇG). The Council of State has ruled that the Presidency shall pay damages to Kılıçdaroğlu.

As reported by Alican Uludağ from Deutsche Welle (DW) Türkçe, on April 15, 2008, the headline of Bugün, which was closed after the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, read "BÇG profiling of Kılıçdaroğlu."

Referring to the reports of the Western Working Group (BÇG), reportedly founded in the period of February 28, 1997, known as the "military memorandum" or "post-modern coup" era in Turkey, the daily alleged that "when Kılıçdaroğlu was the director general of the SSK, he engaged in pro-Kurdish, sectarian and separatist activities at the institution, hired 10 thousand Alevi-Kuridsh people at the SSK, put over 100 people from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and TKPL to critical positions, lodged irregular tenders and caused trillions of liras of damage at the SSK."

In response to this news report, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu filed a lawsuit for damages against Bugün newspaper. While the trial was ongoing, the Ankara 20th Civil Court of First Instance demanded the related profiling report from the Prime Ministry upon the daily's request.

The Directorate General for Security Affairs of the Prime Ministry took out a copy of the related "profiling" report cited in the daily's news article from its archive, put a stamp of "confidential" as well as date and number on the report and sent it to the civil court of first instance.

Kılıçdaroğlu filed a lawsuit

In response to this, Kılıçdaroğlu filed a lawsuit against the Prime Ministry in 2010 and demanded 50 thousand Turkish Lira (TRY) in damages. The reason for the lawsuit was that a report was prepared based on misinformation, stored in the archive and leaked to the press.

The Ankara 1st Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2012. Upon the appeal, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State found Kılıçdaroğlu's appeal justified and overturned the ruling. The ruling indicated that the related report was presented to the court by the Prime Ministry's Follow-up and Evaluation Center with a "confidential" stamp on it, it was kept in the archive of the defendant administration and claimed by being presented to the court.

However, the Ankara 1st Administrative Court defied the ruling of reversal given by the Council of State in 2017. In response to this, Kılıçdaroğlu's lawyer appealed to the highest body of the Council of State, namely the Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers.

Council of State has finalized the ruling

The Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers of the Council has concluded that there was a neglect of duty on the part of the Prime Ministry in 2019 and overturned the local court's ruling defying the previous Council of State ruling in favor of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

As the Prime Ministry was abolished in Turkey in 2018 after Turkey adopted the Presidential Government System, the Presidency has become a party of the trial. Following the final ruling of the Council of State, the Office of the Chief Legal Counsellor of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance requested a revision of the ruling on behalf of the Presidency.

This request was rejected by a majority of votes by the Plenary Session of Administrative Law Chambers of the Council on May 20, 2021.

The ruling was notified to the lawyer of Kılıçdaroğlu in July. It has now become final that the Presidency will pay damages to him. (HA/SD)