Court of Cassation: Saying ‘Erdoğan has money in the Isle of Man’ is not an insult

* Photo: Isle of Man

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Reviewing the damages of 631 thousand lira that Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was sentenced to pay as part of three different lawsuits, the 4th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation has overturned all rulings.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu previously alleged that President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his relatives "sent money to the Isle of Man", which is known as a tax haven.

While local courts sentenced the politician to pay damages over these allegations, the high court has now reversed the rulings.

Celal Çelik, the lawyer of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has announced the news on his social media account: "This time, the Court of Cassation has taught Erdoğan a lesson. [CHP] Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has turned out to be right in the Isle of Man cases and we have won."

CLICK - CHP Chair Kılıçdaroğlu to pay damages to Erdoğan over his remarks on 'Isle of Man'

Erdoğan's lawyer: Kılıçdaroğlu convicted

In response to these statements, Erdoğan's lawyer Hüseyin Aydın has also made a statement on his Twitter account and said that "four of the cases filed by Erdoğan against Kılıçdaroğlu have been finalized." According to the lawyer, "the amount to be paid by Kılıçdaroğlu is 165 thousand lira, including its ancillary charges and there are no other finalized cases."

However, the social media message of the lawyer has not indicated the subject matters of the "convictions" in question.

As reported by Euronews yesterday, "three separate lawsuits for damages were filed against CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on the grounds of his allegations from 2017 that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son, his brother, brother-in-law, his co-in-law and former principal clerk had sent 18 million dollars to the offshore accounts in the Isle of Man in 2011."

According to the report, while the Court of Cassation has ruled that two of these lawsuits shall be dismissed, it has given a ruling of reversal so that the amount of damages to be paid will be decreased.

"There is no finding as to the falsehood of the documents that the defendant based [his remarks on]," the ruling has added further.

What happened?

In his speech on December 5, 2017, CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu argued that President and AKP Chair Erdoğan and his relatives sent money to the Isle of Man. In response to this, Erdoğan and his relatives filed a lawsuit against the politician and requested 1.5 million lira in non-pecuniary damages. Kılıçdaroğlu was sentenced to 142 thousand lira in the end.

The petition of the lawsuit demanded 500 thousand lira for Erdoğan and 250 thousand lira each for his son Burak Erdoğan, uncle-in-law Ziya İlgen, brother Mustafa Erdoğan and co-in-law Osman Ketenci. (AEK/SD)