ANKARA - Turkey's premier opened on Tuesday a compensation case against a former culture minister of Turkey for insulting his personal rights.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded 50,000 new Turkish liras (YTL) of compensation from Fikri Saglar, a former culture minister of Turkey, for an article he wrote and published in a newspaper on May 15th.
Erdogan said Saglar insulted his personal rights in his article titled "was (chief of general staff) Buyukanit handed over a file" and published in Birgun newspaper.
Premier Erdogan's lawyers said the article caused an impression as if Erdogan were a person who made authorities to prepare files against several persons to blacken them, and defined the allegations in the article as unreal and inaccurate.
The lawyers also said the article insulted and defamed Erdogan, and demanded the court to punish Saglar on charges of "defamation" and "insult."
Elected an MP from both Social Democratic People's Party (SHP) and Republican People's Party (CHP), Saglar served as a culture minister between 1991 and 1996.
Also, Erdogan filed a compensation case against Vatan newspaper and its correspondent Sebnem Hosgor on charges that the journalist and the newspaper insulted his personal rights.
(BRC-AÖ)