Turkish actress wins Europe court case

ISTANBUL

The European Court of Human Rights on March 7 condemned Türkiye for failing to protect the private life of Berrak Tüzünataç, a prominent Turkish actress who had been secretly filmed kissing Şahan Gökbakar, one of the most famous screen faces in the country and star of blockbuster comic movies, at her home in footage broadcast on television.

Tüzünataç won the marathon case at the Strasbourg-based ECHR which ruled that Türkiye had violated the European Convention of Human Rights by throwing out her domestic legal complaints.

The actress, now aged 38, had in 2010 filed a suit in Türkiye against the parent company of a Turkish television channel which had filmed her “kissing” another Turkish celebrity “on the terrace” at her home.

She said she had been filmed without her knowledge, in breach of her right to privacy, but the Istanbul regional court in 2013 dismissed her claim on the grounds she had been filmed from the street and there had been no intrusion into her home.

Its ruling was then upheld by both Türkiye’s Court of Cassation and its Constitutional Court.

In its ruling, the ECHR said that despite their fame, “a person’s love life is in principle of a strictly private nature” while the video in question “seems to have had the sole purpose of satisfying the curiosity of a certain audience.”

It said that as the reporting failed to adhere to the “standards of responsible journalism” the domestic courts in Türkiye “should have shown greater rigour when weighing the various interests involved.”

It ruled that Türkiye had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which enshrines respect for a person’s private life.