The Borneo Post (Sabah)

Erdogan takes legal action after lawmaker calls him ‘fascist dictator’

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ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan filed a criminal complaint against a prominent opposition lawmaker yesterday, one of Erdogan’s lawyers said, after the deputy called the Turkish leader a fascist dictator.

In blistering criticism of Erdogan, the spokesman for the main opposition Republican People’s Party, Bulent Tezcan, attacked what he said was a “fearful atmosphere” in Turkey.

Erdogan’s lawyer, Huseyin Aydin, said on Twitter: “We have filed a legal petition concerning Bulent Tezcan with the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office for the crime of insulting the president.” Aydin also posted photos of the petition.

“The suspect’s statements are part of a new campaign against our president and cannot be interprete­d as an isolated incident,” the petition said, saying such a campaign had also been launched ahead of last year’s attempted coup.

In a speech on Monday in the westerncit­yofTekirda­g,criticisin­g local judicial authoritie­s, Tezcan had said: “If you try to scare people and to create a fearful atmosphere by showing legal words as illegal ones we will not be deterred.”

His comments appeared to be in defence of the local mayor, a CHP member, who was questioned by authoritie­s this month after he reportedly called Erdogan a “dictator” at a party congress.

“I don’t know if our mayor said that or not. I, here in Tekirdag, say it now: ‘Erdogan is a fascist dictator’,” Tezcan said.

His comments prompted a swift backlash from Erdogan’s office and lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, with Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin saying his “hate speech is an example of disgrace for the main opposition”.

Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey.

Lawyers for Erdogan have filed more than 1,800 cases against people including cartoonist­s, a former Miss Turkey winner and school children.

Following the failed coup of July 15 last year, Erdogan said he would drop outstandin­g suits, in a oneoff gesture.

Nonetheles­s, rights groups and some Western government­s have voiced concern that Turkey is sliding toward authoritar­ianism. More than 50,000 have been jailed pending trial on suspicion of links to the failed coup. — Reuters

 ??  ?? German novelist Gunter Wallraff (centre) and protesters hold posters with images of Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet staff members during a demonstrat­ion in front of a courthouse in Istanbul. The controvers­ial trial of staff from Turkey’s main...
German novelist Gunter Wallraff (centre) and protesters hold posters with images of Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet staff members during a demonstrat­ion in front of a courthouse in Istanbul. The controvers­ial trial of staff from Turkey’s main...

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