Emine Erdoğan appeals columnist's acquittal over article about her 'Hermes bag'

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Emine Erdoğan, the spouse of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has appealed the acquittal of a columnist whom she filed a suit against for "insult" because of an article about her luxury bag.

Erdoğan alleged that Ender İmrek, a columnist for daily Evrensel, insulted her by "not attributing good qualities to her" in the article titled, "The Hermes bag was shining."

Submitting a petition of appeal to the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice, Ahmet Özel, an attorney for the Erdoğan family, requested the overturn of the verdict of acquittal by the Bakırköy 2nd Penal Court of First Instance.

Including the full text of İmrek's article, the petition says it was unfounded, intended to slander Erdoğan and was not written for the public interest.

While the attorney alleged that the article, when it was considered as a whole, included more than one meaning that contains an insult, he did not specify the words or phrases that could be considered as an insult.

The article was written in an ill-intentioned manner and illegal and İmrek tried to create a negative perception about Erdoğan, the attorney further stated.

The court's decision to acquit İmrek, who should have been sentenced for "insult" as per article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, should be overturned, according to the attorney

What happened?

In the article published on June 29, 2019, Ender İmrek criticized Emine Erdoğan for using a Hermes bag worth 50,000 dollars.

Erdoğan then filed a lawsuit against him. The columnist was charged with "insult by not attributing good qualities."

In the second hearing of the case on October 8, 2020, the prosecutor, without citing any reasons, demanded the columnist be sentenced for the offense that he was charged with.

İmrek was acquitted in the final hearing on December 2. The court concluded that the article was "within the scope of freedom of expression and the press" and did not contain any expressions that could be considered as "insult." (HA/VK)