Cyprus Today

Former PM and state broadcaste­r ordered to pay compensati­on

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A JUDGE at Lefkoşa District Court has ordered former Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün and state broadcaste­r Bayrak Radio and Television Corporatio­n (BRTK) to pay 20,000TL in compensati­on to Deputy Attorney-General Ahmet Varol, over defamatory comments Mr Özgürgün made about Mr Varol and his wife İlkan Varol while being interviewe­d for a BRTK TV programme.

The judge, Düriye Elkıran, also ordered Mr Özgürgün and BRTK to pay Mr Varol 10,000TL in legal costs.

During the interview, broadcast on June 24, 2019, Mr Özgürgün had suggested that Mr Varol was seeking “political benefits” for Mrs Varol, who was appointed as the secretary-general of the Council of Ministers on June 11, 2019, a post she held until March this year, when she became the TRNC’s new Ombudsman.

Mr Özgürgün made the claims after the Chief Prosecutor’s Office launched three separate investigat­ions into

allegation­s of “illegal acquisitio­n of property” and “fraudulent declaratio­n of property” by Mr Özgürgün following a request by Parliament.

The claims arose after details of large deposits paid into Mr Özgürgün’s bank accounts were revealed in court papers during his divorce case.

They showed that Mr Özgürgün had allegedly deposited “ill-gotten gains” of 2,773,800TL, $252,525, £325,800 and 242,000 euros into his Türkiye İş Bank accounts between 2015 and 2017.

Mr Varol was appointed to lead the investigat­ions into Mr Özgürgün after Parliament at the time voted to lift the former National Unity Party leader’s immunity against prosecutio­n as an MP.

Mr Özgürgün, who is living in self-imposed exile in Turkey, did not seek re-election in the last general election in January this year.

Announcing the compensati­on verdict, Judge Elkıran said that Mr Özgürgün’s comments during the BRTK TV interview constitute­d “defamation”

under the law.

Judge Elkıran said that Mr Özgürgün defamed Mr Varol by suggesting that he was a “conspirato­r who used his authority to gain benefits for his wife, who took political bribes, who could take bribes in the future, who worked dishonestl­y and who is a person who does not do his job properly”.

Judge Elkıran also pointed out that the broadcast was on the BRTK channel, which has a “large audience”, and that Mr Özgürgün’s comments were made with “hatred and great anger”.

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 ?? ?? From left, former Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün, İlkan Varol and her husband Deputy Attorney-General Ahmet Varol
From left, former Prime Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün, İlkan Varol and her husband Deputy Attorney-General Ahmet Varol

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