Erdoğan sues Kılıçdaroğlu for 500,000 liras over FETÖ claims

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sued main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, demanding 500,000 Turkish Liras in compensation after Kılıçdaroğlu accused the president of having links to FETÖ.

Erdoğan’s lawyer Hüseyin Aydın has filed a complaint at the Ankara Civil Court, stating that Kılıçdaroğlu’s Feb. 11 speech in parliament included “unrealistic claims.”

The complaint said that Kılıçdaroğlu’s “unrealistic claims” and past comments done to repel these claims can be understood by someone with a “mediocre intelligence.”

“If the defendant does not live in a country in which FETÖ is not sovereign, he owes this to our president,” it added.
The legal action came after Kılıçdaroğlu accused Erdoğan of being “the political wing of FETÖ” at the CHP’s weekly parliamentary group meeting on Feb. 11.

“The number one actor of the political wing is the individual who occupies the presidential chair at the palace. The name of that individual is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” he said.

Erdoğan also slammed the CHP leader over his remarks about FETÖ. Erdoğan said that FETÖ’s political wing is “Kılıçdaoğlu and his team.”

“Kılıçdaroğlu got covered in mud while attempting to throw mud on us. Because the most important political establishment of FETÖ is Kılıçdaroğlu and his team,” Erdoğan said.

Referring to Kılıçdaroğlu’s previous remarks on a former National Security Council (MGK) decision, which declared FETÖ as a terrorist organization, Erdoğan said that he has “his signature under that decision.”

Erdoğan has sued Kılıçdaroğlu for non-pecuniary compensation on several occasions in recent years over various comments.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gülen orchestrated the defeated coup attempt of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara accuses FETÖ of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.