President Erdoğan files lawsuit against Tuncay Özkan: 250,000 TL in non-pecuniary damages

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a lawsuit for 250,000 Turkish Liras in damages against CHP İzmir MP Tuncay Özkan, who made a post targeting him.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, stated in a declaration, "A lawsuit for 250,000 TL in non-pecuniary damages has been filed against CHP İzmir MP Tuncay Özkan due to his baseless and vulgar statements targeting our President. Furthermore, a criminal complaint has been submitted to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for the crime of insulting the President."

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç had announced in a statement on his X account on Sunday evening that an investigation had been launched into the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İzmir MP Tuncay Özkan for referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a "dandy" (züppe).

WHAT HAPPENED?

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a speech he gave in Bitlis on Sunday morning, where he went to attend the 953rd-anniversary events of the Battle of Manzikert, described CHP officials as "elitists addicted to ostentation," stating, "Although they promised the public, they kicked thousands of municipal workers out as soon as they arrived. From behind the mask of populism emerged an elitism addicted to ostentation that enjoys itself in European capitals with the people's money."

Responding to Erdoğan, Özkan said, "You dandy, you! You sit in the palace, sit on the throne, let dollars and billions be your toys, let wastefulness and extravagance be your companions, let the rich be your friends, and you call us 'addicted to ostentation'? You have 13 planes. You have the luxurious life. You have convoys full of cars both at home and abroad. You have become the party of the rich after leaving the nation poor and destitute for 22 years. You have the party members who mock the poor and destitute. You have the dollar billionaires. The dungeons are ours, the palaces are yours, and we are the ones who are ostentatious, is that so? Are you jealous? You palace dandy, you!" and called for early elections.