President Abdullah Gül filed a mental anguish lawsuit against Canan Arıtman, Izmir deputy  for the People’s Republican Party (CHP), in the amount of 1 YTL (about 0.5 euro).

CHP deputy Arıtman had implied that President Gül’s mother was Armenian, when the President had made the comment about the campaign to apologize to the Armenians that ability to discuss every opinion is the policy of the state.

Arıtman had continued her comments after the reactions to her initial comments: “When some people agree with or support the claim that we committed the crime of genocide against the Armenians, the others would ask them if they were Armenians. They would ask this question even if that person is a president.”

President Gül claims that his identity as a statesman, which he has been trying to maintain with utmost responsibility and meticulousness, was defamed.

The President explained yesterday (December 21) that his family was both “Muslim and Turk” and in reply to this explanation, Arıtman said, “The President declared, with some difficulty, that he was the president of the state of the Turkish Republic and the nation. I am sorry that this identity was declared as secondary. He should have said 'I  am a Turk' as his first identity.” (TK/TB)