Victim Erdoğan, Suspect FoE

President Erdoğan’s lawyers filed complaints against journalists Sönmez and Dündar. In the past 6 months, a total of 52,740 liras of monetary fines and 208 years and 1 months if prison have been issued in cases where was the “victim”.

Elif Akgül

List of cases in past 6 months where Erdoğan is “victim”

* 36 individuals faced monetary fines.

* 17 defendants were convicted a total of 31 years of prison.

* 35 individuals faced trials.

* Writer Erol Özkoray faced 2 years and 8 months of prison.

* Writer İhsan Eliaçık was convicted to pay a fine.

* 29 Twitter users faced criminal charges.

* 6 CHP members have face prosecutions for “insulting a public officer”.

* A complaint has been made against Samanyolu TV Managing Editor Abdullah Bağ. He faced up to 11 years and 2 months of prison.

*In Didim district, Mehmet Gölebatmaz has been convicted to a suspended fine of 6,080 liras for “insulting Erdoğan” with caricatures on Gezi Resistance.

* CHP Dersim deputy Hüseyin Aygün has been ordered to pay 25K liras.

* A parliamentary digest has been drafted against CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and many complaints have been submitted.

* Zaman columnist Mahir Zeynalov has been deported.

* He filed complaints against BirGün, Zaman and Taraf newspapers.

* He filed complaints against journalists Uğur Dündar, Emre Uslu and Önder Aytaç.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan filed a complain against former Sözcü newspaper columnist Mustafa Sönmez for insult and defamation in two different articles.

Sönmez: AKP regime’s intolerance

Sönmez told bianet that his article didn’t contain any insults or defamation against Erdoğan.

“I have been repeating those arguments in different articles till the end of August,” he said.

“This is just another example of AKP regime’s intolerence. There is intolerance against criticism, analysis ad various interpretations of readers.”

PM Erdoğan’s complaints

As Sönmez pointed out, Erdoğan has filed complaints against several journalists and media outlets since the early periods of his post as prime minister.

According to BİA Media Monitoring Reports in 2014, a total of 52,740 liras of monetary fines and 208 years and 1 months if prison have been issued in cases where Erdoğan was the “victim”.

Önderoğlu: Let FoE be sacrificed for Erdoğan!

Önderoğlu, the editor of BIA Media Monitoring Reports, said the following:

“Erdoğan has established a stable flow of complaints against journalists as he regarded them as a threat to his iron-fist government model as well as he has no tolerance against criticism.

“Not only cases related to his personal rights, but Erdoğan also filed complaints in criticism cases related to contemporary finance-urbanization policies. In a period when the court system and media are in high favor of the government, Erdoğan’s basic worries are not related to the outcome of trials but the diameter of media outlets that will support his power. Let FoE be sacrificed for Erdoğan!”

President Erdoğan’s complaints

Following his election as Turkey’s 12th president, Erdoğan continued his trend of complaints in full swing.

There are two file complaints against Sönmez. Küçükçekmece Prosecutor’s Office summoned Sönmez for statement.

Can Dündar also testified

Cumhuriyet newspaper columnist Can Dündar has testified to Prosecutor Emin Aydinç to charges related to “insult” and “breach of confidentiality” in his article entitled “Erdoğan’s soft spot” and “It is our right to read those parliamentary digests”. The complaint was submitted by PM Erdoğan and his son Bilal Erdoğan. (EA/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.

* Click here to read the BIA Media Monitoring Reports.

Elif Akgül

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Gazeteci. Aralık 2012-Haziran 2018 dönemi bianet İfade Özgürlüğü editörü. Öncesinde IMC TV'de muhabirlik yaptı. İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Sinema Televizyon Bölümü mezunu.