Woman actor wins the right to privacy case in ECtHR against Türkiye

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The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Türkiye for failing to protect the private life of woman actor Berrak Tüzünataç who had been secretly filmed kissing another celebrity at her home, and the footage was broadcast on television.

The ECtHR has, in its ruling issued today, concluded that article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. 

Tüzünataç applied to the ECtHR in 2018 after she was not able to obtain any results in the domestic judiciary system in Türkiye.

The woman actor filed a suit in Türkiye in 2010 against the television channel that had filmed her "kissing" another actor "on the terrace" at her home.

She said she had been filmed without her knowledge, in breach of her right to privacy, but the Istanbul 13th court of first instance in 2013 dismissed her claim on the grounds she had been filmed from the street and there had been no intrusion into her home.

The ruling of the local court was then upheld by both Türkiye's Court of Cassation in 2014 and the Constitutional Court ruled after her individual application, that there was no violation in 2017.

In its ruling, the ECHR said that despite their fame, "a person's love life is in the principle of a strictly private nature" while the video in question "seems to have had the sole purpose of satisfying the curiosity of a certain audience".

It said that as the reporting failed to adhere to the "standards of responsible journalism" the domestic courts in Türkiye  "should have shown greater rigor when weighing the various interests involved."

The ECtHR ruled that Türkiye had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding respect for a person's private life. (NK/TY/PE)