Özgür Özel, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been ordered by a court to pay damages to Akın Gürlek, İstanbul’s top prosecutor, for violating his personal rights in remarks describing the prosecutor as a “mobile guillotine,” Turkish Minute reported.
Özel will pay Gürlek 480,000 lira ($13,000) in non-pecuniary damages.
Özel has been criticizing Gürlek, a former judge and deputy justice minister known for convicting dissidents in politically motivated trials, for leading an ongoing judicial crackdown on his party.
The crackdown on the CHP has led to the arrest of three of its district mayors in İstanbul and their removal from office in addition to the detention and arrest of a number of former and current CHP city officials. Gürlek has overseen several investigations into prominent CHP figures.
Gürlek filed a lawsuit against Özel, demanding non-pecuniary damages on the grounds that Özel violated his personal rights by referring to him as “the executioner and mobile guillotine of the palace,” in reference to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at six party meetings on different dates.
According to an İstanbul civil court that heard Gürlek’s lawsuit, Özel’s statements exceeded the limits of criticism and were personal attacks. The court ruled in favor of Gürlek and ordered Özel to pay damages.
Özel and İstanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu are also facing criminal investigations due to their criticism of Gürlek on accusations of “targeting public officials engaged in the fight against terrorism,” “issuing threats” and “publicly insulting a state official in connection with their duties.”
The erosion in the rule of law in Turkey worsened after a failed coup in July 2016, when more than 4,000 judges and prosecutors were removed on the pretext of an anti-coup fight.
The government is accused of replacing the purged judicial members with young and inexperienced judges and prosecutors who have close links to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
In a development that confirmed the weakening of the Turkish judiciary, Turkey was ranked 117th among 142 countries in the rule of law index published by the World Justice Project (WJP) in October 2024.
