President Erdoğan files 'Şişli' lawsuit against Özgür Özel: Seeking compensation for those remarks

Erdoğan has filed a 500 thousand lira non-pecuniary damages lawsuit against CHP Chairman Özgür Özel due to remarks he made at a rally held in front of the Şişli Municipality.

In the petition submitted by the lawyer for AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan, it was summarized as follows: "(CHP Chairman Özel) is attempting to exonerate his party by directly targeting our client and inciting the masses.

In this context, the defendant's statements do not remain within the limits of personal criticism but are declarations that threaten public order and have the potential to harm the constitutional order.

When evaluated together with the fact that individuals other than the defendant who spoke after him also made statements directly targeting our client, and that our client was collectively insulted through banners opened and slogans chanted in the rally area, it is understood that these acts were committed jointly and carried out in an organized manner" the statements read.

The lawsuit petition requested the acceptance of the case and that 500 thousand lira in non-pecuniary damages be compensated by Özel, along with legal interest to accrue from the date of the tortious act.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, in his speech in front of the Şişli Municipality, where a trustee was appointed, had stated, "Erdoğan won the title of President in the last general election he entered, but when his party tasted defeat for the first time on March 31, when Mayor Ekrem destroyed those he appointed once again on March 31, and when the Republican People's Party became Turkey's leading party once again after 47 years on March 31, he could not show the 47 days of patience that we showed for 47 years.

Erdoğan is intolerant, Erdoğan is a coup plotter, Erdoğan is a member of a junta, Erdoğan is the head of the junta. He has come out and is now saying, 'We are the state.' He says, 'The state is behind me.' The state is nothing more than buildings.

Discomfort with what you have done in state administration is also at its peak.

But if you stand before this nation with a handful of junta members saying 'I have seized the state,' this nation will surely show you its own power. It will surely show it," he had said.