Turkey’s president files complaint against CHP leader

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a complaint against the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), demanding 100,000 Turkish Liras for damages stemming from “mental anguish.”

The reason for the complaint is a statement by the CHP leader at a parliamentary group meeting on May 17 in Ankara, Anadolu Agency reported. 

“Not only are your hands covered in blood, your teeth are also full of blood. Why did you send arms to Syria? To let people get massacred. You are the only one responsible for all these deaths,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in his speech, accusing the president of benefiting from “blood, violence and tension.”

Saying Kılıçdaroğlu insulted the personal rights of the president in order to deliberately attack him, Erdoğan’s lawyers Hüseyin Aydın and Tuğba Sağlam Eker said the CHP leader acted outside the bounds of freedom of criticism and expression in making his statement.

“The statements of Kılıçdaroğlu lack any humanitarian and ethical value and we have no other examples of this in Turkish politics. The defendant makes his wording uglier each and every time,” read the complaint prepared by the lawyers. 

“There are no explanations for the defendant’s statements in the scales of reason, logic or conscience. There are no doubts that the defendant has lost his balance,” added the statement, which read that the aforementioned statements were made “in front of the people.”

“Our people, who can distinguish those who really help terrorists, engage in corruption, feed on blood and lack honor and pride with their deep wisdom, punish them in every election,” the statement also said.