CHP deputy chair Tezcan fined 30,000 liras for calling Erdoğan ‘fascist dictator’

ANKARA

A court has ordered main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chair and party spokesperson Bülent Tezcan to pay an immaterial compensation of 30,000 Turkish Liras ($6,200) for calling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “fascist dictator.”

Erdoğan’s lawyer Hüseyin Aydın announced the court’s verdict on Twitter.

“In the immaterial compensation lawsuit we filed, the court ruled for a fine of 30,000 liras. Those who violate our president’s personal rights will be held accountable, no matter their status,” Aydın tweeted on July 12.

At the hearing, Tezcan’s lawyer Celal Çelik argued that his clients’ remarks were not insulting.

“Words such as ‘fascist and dictator’ are entirely political notions. Politicians must bear with all sorts of criticism, even the heaviest ones,” Çelik said, demanding the court reject the case.

Erdoğan had filed the complaint in 2017, asking for 50,000 liras in compensation.

This is not the first time a senior figure from the main opposition party has been fined over remarks or comments about Erdoğan.

In June, a court in Istanbul ordered CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to pay immaterial compensation of 142,000 liras in a case filed by Erdoğan.

Kılıçdaroğlu had claimed that the president and his relatives hold offshore accounts in the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland.

One day after the accusations were made, Erdoğan accused Kılıçdaroğlu of “lying.”

Back in 2016, Kılıçdaroğlu was also ordered to pay 50,000 liras to Erdoğan as compensation for calling him a “sham dictator.”