Erdoğan sues Özel and İmamoğlu for 1 million liras in compensation

Duvar English

Turkey’s President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sued main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Özgür Özel, and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu for their remarks directed to him during a rally.

Erdoğan demanded both figures to pay one million liras ($29,132) to him in compensation for non-pecuniary damages, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Nov. 1.

The CHP on Oct. 31 held a rally to protest the undemocratic removal of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district mayor, Ahmet Özer from the CHP, from his post by the government. Özer was arrested on Oct. 30 on alleged charges of “membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed terrorist organization.”

The petition presented by Erdoğan’s lawyer Ahmet Özel claimed that Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu “used baseless accusations including slander against Erdoğan,” “violated Erdoğan's personal rights,” and “acted with the intention of humiliating the President in front of the public.”

It also claimed that İmamoğlu's remarks of “with a stick in his hand” and “a government pursuing a dark move” used against Erdoğan “exceeded” his purpose and “not only damaged the reputation of President Erdoğan, but also dragged the public into hatred and distorted the facts.”

Meanwhile, it claimed that CHP leader Özgür Özel “clearly committed a crime against the reputation and honor of the office of the Presidency.”

“The Republic of Turkey, the office of the Presidency, and our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in particular have been gravely insulted by (Özel). A flagrant crime was committed against the reputation and honor of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation,” it further argued, saying “Erdoğan was likened to a coup plotter, terrorist ringleader, conspirator and dictator.”

It demanded a public lawsuit be filed against Özel for “publicly insulting the President” and “slander.”

It also claimed that Özel referred to Erdoğan as a “dictator” during his speech and that his words “consisted of unreasonable expressions” against Erdoğan, and, “The defendant's heavy insulting and slanderous statements were published all over the country through the media, and the slander against the client was made public before the whole country and the moral integrity of the client was attacked in an irreparable way.”