Turkish president sues opposition leader for comparing him to junta

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a lawsuit against Özgür Özel, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairperson, following his controversial comments.

The lawsuit seeks 500,000 Turkish liras (approximately $13,100) in moral damages, accusing Özel of insulting the president and comparing him to a junta, Caliber.Az reports via Turkish media.

Erdogan’s lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, confirmed that the lawsuit was filed with the Ankara Civil Court of First Instance. The legal action stems from remarks made by Özel during the extraordinary congress of the CHP on April 6, where he was re-elected as party leader. During his speech, Özel referred to Erdogan and his government as "junta participants" and likened them to a military coup regime, claiming they had "taken over the country."

Aydın noted that the lawsuit was filed in response to Özel’s "baseless accusations" and emphasized that it sought moral damages for the "insult" directed at the president. In addition, the lawyer confirmed that a criminal case would be pursued, with the matter referred to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ankara for further investigation.

Özel's comments, made in the midst of the CHP's congress, sparked immediate backlash from government officials, further intensifying the ongoing political tensions in Türkiye.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it was Özel himself who sought foreign assistance after the mayor’s arrest on charges of corruption, while Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç Özel attempted to divert attention from accusations Imamoğlu faced.

“Know your limits,” Fidan wrote in a social media post addressed to Özel on April 6. Fidan stated that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received public support for years and fought against “tutelage” over politics, referring to multiple coups in Turkish history. 

“It is Özgür Özel himself who represents a tradition pursuing policies aligning with coups against the nation’s will. It is Özel himself who seeks political legitimacy without democracy through riots,” he said, referring to CHP’s call for protests against Imamoğlu’s arrest in March. Özel led rallies in Istanbul for days and his inciting remarks were followed by riots in several cities that targeted police. “For weeks, Özel, who blended his political ambitions with conspiracy theories and presented this as politics, claimed he felt abandoned by other countries,” he said.

By Vafa Guliyeva