Erdogan files 'insult' case against CHP deputy chair

ANKARA

Turkey’s president on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint against a top official of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for insulting the president.

In public remarks on Monday in the northwestern Tekirdag province, the CHP's Deputy Chair Bulent Tezcan called President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “fascist dictator”.

Tezcan was reportedly in Tekirdag in a show of support for Ekrem Eskinat, mayor of the city's Suleymanpasa district, who earlier also allegedly called Erdogan a dictator.

"I don’t know if the mayor said it or not. However, here in Tekirdag, I am saying it: Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a fascist dictator," Tezcan told a crowd.

Ankara prosecutors have launched an investigation of Tezcan for "insulting the president" under Article 299 of the Turkish Criminal Code, which says that anyone who “casts aspersions on the President” faces one to four years in prison, with greater penalties for doing so publicly or through the media.

Tezcan's remarks are not covered under "freedom of thought and expression," according to Erdogan’s letter of complaint.

The letter pointed to what it called a CHP campaign "to create a dictatorial image" of Erdogan.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim slammed Tezcan's remarks about Erdogan. "I am wondering whether he is the party spokesman or the party abuser," he said.

He added: "If they were looking for a dictator, they should look at their own history and tradition."

In the southern Antalya province on Tuesday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu also criticized the remarks, saying insults against the president "are indeed against those who elected him".

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin criticized Tezcan on Monday, tweeting: “Bulent Tezcan’s rhetoric of hatred is a badge of shame for the main opposition. This is not politics, but rather hostility towards the nation’s will.”

Also on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bekir Bozdag brought up the issue when speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

"If there was a fascist or a dictator in Turkey, Bulent Tezcan could not have said such a sentence. He could not even have thought such a sentence," he said.

Reporting by Zafer Fatih Beyaz:Writing by Ayse Humeyra Atilgan, Emin Avundukluoglu