Main opposition MP to pay damages to Minister of Defense for 'insult'

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Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Özgür Özel will pay 15,000 lira (~1,900 US dollars) to Minister of Defense Hulusi Akar for insulting him, according to a court ruling today (December 3).

Akar had sued Özel because of his remarks against him at a parliamentary session last March and later on TV.

The MP accused Akar of not visiting his fellow soldiers in prison at the time of the mass arrest of senior military officers a decade ago.

The deputy and the minister didn't attend yesterday's (December 2) hearing while their attorneys were present in the courtroom.

While Akar's attorneys claimed Özel's remarks qualified as an attack, the deputy's attorneys demanded the case be dismissed as his client "did not use strong words."

The Ankara 26th Penal Court of First Instance accepted the case and sentenced Özel to pay 15,000 lira to Akar for non-material damages for insulting him.

What happened?

Criticizing Akar's stance during the mass arrest of lawyers in the late 2000s and early 2010s, "You are a man who is cursed by his brothers in arms," Özel said at a parliamentary session in March 2019, addressing the defense minister.

In response, Akar said he frequently visited his fellow soldiers and recalled the night of the failed coup in July 2016, saying that the putschists asked him to be their leader at gunpoint and he refused them.

Both the arrest of officers and the coup attempt are attributed to the "Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)."

President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called Özel "impudent" for his remarks and said that a lawsuit should be filed against him.

"We will speak their language. First, compensation, then, sentence," he had said. (HA/VK)