Erdogan sues opposition leader who mocked his “terrorist” rhetoric, accusing her of insulting the president

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint of “insulting the president”
against Meral Aksener, leader of the opposition Good Party (IYI), for mocking his statements calling opposition parties and their voters “terrorists”.

Erdogan targeted opposition parties ahead of the March 31 local elections on February 21 in the western province of Denizli, calling them an “alliance of dishonor” and “pro-terror”. These comments angered the leaders of opposition parties, including Republican’s Party (CHP), People’s Democratic Party (HDP), IYI and Felicity Party (SP).

Aksener, who organized a rally in the same province together with CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Wednesday, harshly criticized Erdogan’s discourse. Aiming to mock Erdogan, Aksener greeted the crowds saying, “Oh, terrorists, how are you?”

The president calls you terrorists – Aksener

Making fun of Erdogan’s aggressive rhetoric, Aksener added, “Oh! People of Denizli, whom the president calls terrorists, are you OK? The president of the country called 11 million supporters of CHP, 5 million supporters of IYI, and 1 million supporters of the Democrat Party (DP) and SP, terrorists,” she lamented.

She claimed that Erdogan was very angry with her as she had made the Turkish public aware
of his “terrorists” remarks against his opponents whose population she claims to be more
than thirty million.

Erdogan, during a rally in the eastern province of Siirt on Thursday, denied Aksener’s
accusations that he had labeled opposition voters as terrorists. However, he still went on to
blame opposition parties for cooperating with or supporting “terrorist groups.”

“Am I a fool?” – Erdogan

“Am I so much of a fool to call my citizens terrorists?” he scolded. He went on to say that he
had ordered his lawyers to file a criminal complaint against Aksener with the allegation of
“insulting the president”.

Huseyin Aydin, Erdogan’s lawyer, claimed that the president had never called Turkish citizens terrorists, but had only wanted to emphasize the relationship or alliance of the opposition and terrorist organizations. He further claimed that the president had warned opposition supporters against this “relationship” and urged them to be aware of and respond to it accordingly.

“Insulting the president” is a crime in Turkey, according to the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). The crime could result in a four-year prison sentence, although it could be longer if the crime is committed through mass media.

Convictions for “speaking out against the president”

Benjamin Ward, Europe and Central Asia acting director of Human Rights Watch, responded
by saying, “Turkish courts have convicted thousands of people in the past four years for
simply speaking out against the president.”

According to the Ministry of Justice’s General Directorate of Judicial Records and Statistics, the number of people prosecuted and convicted according to article 299 has risen rapidly since Erdogan assumed the presidency in 2014. The number of people prosecuted in 2014 was 132. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, the number of people prosecuted was 1,953, 4,187 and 6,033 respectively.

Actual convictions were 40 in 2014, 238 in 2015, 884 in 2016 and 2,099 in 2017.

Opposition leaders mock President’s comments, greeting crowds with “Oh! Terrorists! How are you?”

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from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/03/09/erdogan-sues-opposition-leader-who-mocked-his-terrorist-rhetoric-accusing-her-of-insulting-the-president/