Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday filed a lawsuit against main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for TL 250,000 in non-pecuniary damages for violating his personal rights, NTV reported.
According to the report, a speech delivered by the CHP leader at the parliament on Tuesday was cited as evidence in the petition. Kılıçdaroğlu is accused of intervening in the fight against terrorism by calling Erdoğan a supporter of terrorism, in the petition.
Erdoğan on Jan. 12 also filed a lawsuit against Kılıçdaroğlu for TL 150,000 in non-pecuniary damages for violating his personal rights in a speech delivered by the CHP leader in front of the Beşiktaş municipal building on Jan. 5. On Jan. 8, Erdoğan filed a criminal complaint against Kılıçdaroğlu for the same speech.
Erdoğan on Dec. 29 filed a lawsuit against Kılıçdaroğlu for TL 250,000 in non-pecuniary damages for violating his personal rights during speeches on Dec. 22 and Dec. 24.
Erdoğan and members of his family on Dec. 1 filed a lawsuit against Kılıçdaroğlu for TL 1.5 million ($380,000) in damages for creating hatred in society against the president and his family during a speech on Nov. 28.
Kılıçdaroğlu said during his party meeting in Parliament on Nov. 28 that Erdoğan’s brother-in-law, brother, son and son’s father-in-law and his former executive assistant sent about $15 million to an offshore company called Bellway, Ltd., on the Isle of Man between December 2011 and January 2012.
On Nov. 24 Erdoğan filed another lawsuit against Kılıçdaroğlu for TL 1.5 million in non-pecuniary damages due to a speech on Nov. 21.
Meanwhile, a university student from the Turkey’s Amasya province, identified as H.N., was put in pretrial detention for insulting Erdoğan on social media, on Wednesday. Cumhuriyet daily reported that H.N., an Amasya University student and a member of Turkish Communist Party (TKP), was arrested over her allegedly insulting social media postings from 2014 and 2016.
TKP defied the decision in a statement later the same day stating that such arrests do not comply with the rule of law.
As of the end of 2016, at least 10,000 people were under investigation on suspicion of terrorist propaganda and insulting senior state officials on social media. A total of 1,080 people were convicted of insulting Erdoğan in 2016, according to data from Turkey’s Justice Ministry. Data also showed that 4,936 cases were launched against people on charges of insult in 2016. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
