ANKARA
Turkey's president has filed a $37,000 lawsuit against an opposition leader for ‘mental anguish’ after a bitter public spat over claims there are golden toilet seats installed in the country’s Presidential Palace.
The 100,000 Turkish lira ($US 37,300) lawsuit filed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lawyer Muammer Cemaloglu says Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s accusations are "unfair and serious allegations which exceed freedom-of-expression rights".
Speaking at a CHP rally on May 26 in Denizli, western Turkey, Kilicdaroglu said: "Wastefulness is sin, according to our religion.
“Is it logical to waste when there are many poor people? Have you [Erdogan] ever thought about the 17 million poor citizens in Turkey, instead of getting golden toilet seats, palaces with 1,100 rooms?"
The final reference is to Turkey’s new Presidential Palace in Ankara, opened in 2014 at a cost of $615 million according to the country’s finance minister.
Kilicdaroglu also said: "Gentlemen in Ankara have totally forgotten about citizens, poor people and workers. Therefore they even made their toilet seats from gold."
Erdogan has been critical of Kilicdaroglu as the head of state tours Turkey's cities ahead of the country’s June 7 general election.
Speaking at a public rally in the eastern city of Erzurum on Monday, Erdogan directly addressed the CHP leader:
"Hey, Kilicdaroglu. When did you visit the Bestepe Kulliye [Presidential Palace], clean there and saw there were golden toilet seats?"
The Palace issued an official invitation to Kilicdaroglu to inspect the premises for himself. His party issued a response within hours, declining any such invitation to what it called the 'Kacak saray' [illegal palace].
During a television interview on Sunday, Erdogan also said he would resign as president of Turkey if Kilicdaroglu’s claims were true.
The president challenged the CHP leader to do the same if his claims were proved wrong.
In the lawsuit petition, Erdogan says Kilicdaroglu "is lying and slandering" and wants him "to be condemned".
Turks will elect 550 deputies to the Grand National Assembly from 20 political parties in the country's 25th general election on Sunday.
