ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sued main opposition Republican People`s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal for violating his personality rights.
Erdogan`s lawyers Fatih Sahin and Muammer Cemaloglu submitted a petition to the court in which they said, "Baykal used extremely offensive words insulting Prime Minister Erdogan and violated his personality rights in a speech he delivered at the CHP parliamentary group meeting on December 12th, 2006 by saying, `Erdogan could not yet act as a prime minister. He acts like a speaker at a high school debate team. It is an insolent style against the president, the main opposition party and Denktas.` Baykal clearly described Prime Minister Erdogan`s style as `insolent`, and violated the freedom of expression."
"Baykal`s accusations contradict political ethics, basic principles of politics and ethic rules," they advocated.
The lawyers requested the court to rule Baykal pay a compensation of nearly 17 thousand USD to Erdogan.