Criminal Complaint by Erdoğan Against 72 CHP MPs Over ‘Kingdom of Tayyips’

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a criminal complaint against 72 Republican People’s Party (CHP) MPs, who shared “Kingdom of Tayyips” caricature on social media.

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced yesterday (July 18) that an investigation was launched against CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who shared the caricature on his Twitter account.

Furthermore, Erdoğan filed a claim for compensation of 1 milliton TL against Kılıçdaroğlu due to statements he made at his party’s group meeting.

Sharing the caricature, which led four Middle East Technical University (METU) students to be arrested, on his Twitter account, Kılıçdaroğlu wrote, “You will tolerate criticism and humour, you have to! You cannot prevent criticism and humour by jailing people”.

CHP MPs shared the caricature on social media both yesterday and after the investigation was launched.

What happened?

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the banner carried during the graduation ceremony at Middle East Technical University (METU) on July 6 and charged the students who carried the banner with "insulting the president."

On the banner, there was a caricature which was originally published on the Penguen humor magazine in 2005. Under the heading of the "Kingdom of Tayyips", the caricature depicts the President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the form of an elephant, a cow, camel, frog, snake, duck, giraffe and monkey.

Erdoğan had filed a claim for immaterial compensation of 40 thousand YTL (New Turkish Lira). However, the case was rejected by the 1st Civil Court of First Instance on the ground that the caricature in question is within the scope of "freedom of expression". (AS/TK)