Erdoğan again sues Kılıçdaroğlu over ‘insult’

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sued main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for “insulting the presidential office” in remarks on an alleged phone conversation between Erdoğan and his son.

Erdoğan’s lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, filed a letter complaint against Kılıçdaroğlu on Jan. 8 stating that the CHP leader had voiced arguments “used by the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)” by referring to alleged recordings of the phone conversations.

The complaint came after the CHP leader on Jan. 5 blasted Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over the Interior Ministry’s order to dismiss the CHP’s Istanbul Beşiktaş district mayor Murat Hazinedar.

Aydın stated that Kılıçdaroğlu referred to an alleged wiretapped recording of a phone conversation, revealed during purges of AKP officials after the Dec. 17-25, 2013 corruption cases.

The investigation embroiled a number of senior government members and accused Iranian-Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab of paying bribes, in a scheme that involved AKP official’s relatives and executives of state lender Halkbank. The government accused the network of U.S.-based Islamic preacher of being behind the probe, which was officially quashed in 2014.

In his letter of complaint, Aydın said the recordings Kılıçdaroğlu referred to were “distorted” and claimed that “a counterfeit conversation was created.” The CHP leader’s reference “should be considered as evidence of cooperation,” between FETÖ and Kılıçdaroğlu, he added.

The lawyer demanded prosecutors investigate Kılıçdaroğlu for “insulting the president” and requested a public case to be opened.

The move comes after Erdoğan sued the main opposition party leader in November 2017, demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages over “slanderous” comments about him and his family.