The first hearing of the trial against Oktay Ekşi, former Editor-in-Chief of the nation-wide Hürriyet newspaper, was held on Thursday (15 February). The Minister for the Environment and Forests, Veysel Eroğlu, the Energy Minister, Taner Yıldız, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan filed a complaint with the journalists because of alleged "insult" on the grounds of his column entitled, ""We have not been as critical as we should".

At the hearing before the Bakırköy (Istanbul) 2^nd Criminal Court of First Instance, Ekşi emphasized that he had never been taken to court within 36 years as chief editor of the Hürriyet daily.

He stated that he wrote the column the trial is based on in order to draw attention to the damage that was going to be caused by hydroelectric power plants (HES). Ekşi claimed that he did not insult anybody and that he became the actual victim.

Ekşi: No reactions on the first day, lynch attempts started later on

Ekşi recalled that he did not receive any reactions upon his column on the day it was published. He even talked to Minister Eroğlu over the phone at that day and the minister did not mention anything like 'You insulted us', Ekşi said. He continued:

"One day after the writing was published, the Prime Minister reacted to the article after having been directed by his environment by saying, 'We will fight this mentality'".

"The Prime Minister reacted to the column one day later because of a group in his environment. Subsequently, the process took a different turn and the main stream media started lynch attempts against me".

Bayraktar: No insult, complainants were not addressed

Ekşi's lawyer Köksal Bayraktar put forward that the writing did not insult anybody and requested his client's acquittal. He claimed that the people referred to in the column were not the complainants:

"Other than that, the idiom 'selling one's own essentials' is a common saying and did not refer to the three complainants. The dictionary of idioms defines this expression as 'shrug off' and 'being insignificant'".

The court accepted lawyer Fatih Şahin's request for joint plaintiff status who had applied because the complainants' names were mentioned in the writing. Şahin is the legal advisor of PM Erdoğan and Minister Yıldız. The case was postponed in order to complete the case file.

Erdoğan claims TL 100,000 in compensation

The column was published on 28 October 2010. Erdoğan claims an "attack on his personal rights and moral personality" and seeks compensation of TL 100,000 (€ 50,000) including interest.

Ekşi wrote a short apology entitled "Apparently, we went beyond the setting". He had to resign as chief editor. He also quitted his duty at the Press Council and joined the Republican People's Party (CHP). (EÇ/EÖ/VK)

Source: Zaman newspaper.