Compensation lawsuit filed by Anadolu Agency against İmamoğlu rejected: 'We were forced to file the lawsuit'

In his speech at the CHP Headquarters at 19:38 on May 14, while evaluating the data regarding the election, İmamoğlu had said, "While we express our faith in every official of our state, our lack of faith in Anadolu Agency is evident by the fact that its name is not even mentioned here." In his statement at 22:36, he said, "Do not forget, my dear friends, Anadolu Agency is an institution in a vegetative state. There is no institution there; we will revive that institution. Masked people are running their own processes behind that vegetative institution. Do not be deceived. They are deceptive people. They are liars." 

ANADOLU AGENCY: WE WERE FORCED TO FILE THIS LAWSUIT

Stating that they suffered damages due to these remarks by İmamoğlu, AA lawyers said, “We were forced to file this lawsuit because our agency's credibility has been damaged due to the defendant's statements; a lynching campaign was conducted consciously and deliberately by the defendant; therefore, we lost many subscribers, suffered financial losses, our agency's data is the same as the YSK's data, and our agency's reputation has been damaged.” 

'IN 2019, ANADOLU AGENCY SPREAD THE PERCEPTION THAT BINALI YILDIRIM WON THE ELECTION'

İmamoğlu's lawyer, Kemal Polat, also recalled the 2019 elections in their defense regarding the lawsuit and included the following lines:

"The plaintiff, Anadolu Agency, incorrectly showed the client's rival, Binali Yıldırım, in the lead during the 2019 local elections, did so by stopping the sharing of data after the rival announced he had won, and by declaring that Binali Yıldırım, who spread the perception of winning, had won the election, it adorned Istanbul with thank-you posters; Anadolu Agency reported only these in a one-sided manner. In that election, the data flow stopped all night, the YSK announced that my client had won in the morning, yet Anadolu Agency only shared the real data with the media much later. During this process, numerous news reports were published in the press regarding what happened at Anadolu Agency, and findings that Anadolu Agency received its data from the AK Party were announced to the public by journalists. For this reason, the plaintiff has lost trust in society by appearing to have lost its impartiality under the intervention and influence of politics.

'HE ACTED WITH THE CONCERN THAT THE PUBLIC SHOULD RECEIVE ACCURATE INFORMATION WHILE MAKING THESE STATEMENTS'

To believe or not to believe, to trust or not to trust, is a matter concerning the inner world of individuals and falls within the scope of freedom of thought and conviction protected by Article 24 of the Constitution. The freedom of individuals to express such convictions is also protected by Article 26 of the Constitution. There is no doubt that freedom of expression is not unlimited.

However, putting into words what this limit is, is important for sound reasoning. For this, it is necessary to evaluate the conditions of the concrete case as a whole. Therefore, as will be seen when the evidence collected in the file, listed above, is examined; considering that the history of the words for which sanctions are requested, their factual foundations, and the political nature of the debate are of central importance in determining the illegality of a statement, the dismissal of this lawsuit is requested due to this entire sequence of events and the fact that the words are in the nature of an expression of opinion.

Moreover, the client made the relevant statements based on the fact that the data of the plaintiff, Anadolu Agency, contradicted the data in his own possession. Having seen that this contradiction occurred as he predicted in the previous election, the 2019 local elections, the client acted with the concern that the public should receive accurate information while making these statements."

News Source: 12punto