A ruling by the Turkish Constitutional Court earlier this month brought a massive defamation campaign against a former minister to the spotlight.

The top court sided with former Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak in a complaint filed by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The CHP has claimed that the compensation they were ordered to pay Albayrak by a lower court, over their campaign against the minister, was a violation of freedom of expression. However, the court, in a verdict issued on June 11, said a just balance was needed between freedom of expression and safeguarding individuals’ reputation and honor. It approved lower court’s verdict on compensation, citing that the CHP had failed to link the issue of declining reserves of the Turkish central bank to Albayrak and this, in turn, constituted defamation.

The CHP launched a campaign against Albayrak in 2021 under the motto of "Where is 128 billions of dollars?” claiming the central bank was ordered to spend that amount to keep the interest rates low.

Authorities have repeatedly denied the claim but the CHP adhered to the allegations, adorning billboards with the campaign posters and claiming that the dollars were wasted. Then-CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, his successor Özgür Özel, and former Treasury Undersecretary and CHP lawmaker Faik Öztrak were behind the campaign.

Then allies of the CHP, leaders of the Good Party (IP), the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) and the Future Party (GP) endorsed the campaign. In a short time, the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which enjoyed support from the CHP during their 2013 coup attempts, launched a parallel campaign on the social media. FETÖ’s fugitive members took to social media for a campaign of misperception. Bot accounts controlled by FETÖ circulated the allegations while FETÖ members released a trove of online videos to support the CHP’s campaign. Cevheri Güven, a fugitive FETÖ member, was behind several videos where he claimed central bank reserves were funneled to certain figures, contributing to the CHP’s false narrative. Other members of the group released fake infographics to detail where the millions of dollars were "funnelled.” The terrorist group used the narrative to claim that Turkish economy was collapsing. Through thousands of bot accounts, FETÖ sought to portray allegations as a natural public reaction, releasing doctored graphics regarding the central bank’s reserves.

FETÖ’s primary tactic was to hurt the image of the bank and Albayrak, presenting the bank’s legal and transparent market interventions, such as swap and foreign exchange sales conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain exchange rate stability and provide market liquidity, as "secret and shady deals.”

Social media accounts on "finance” operated by the terrorist group distorted technical data to produce the argument that "money was sold off-the-record, the buyers are being hidden, and pro-government circles were enriched." The CHP then institutionalized this campaign by carrying these allegations to its political rallies and billboards.

Yet, it was someone from the CHP itself that disrupted the campaign. CHP lawmaker İlhan Kesici openly declared in an interview that all actions of central bank was public record.

Media reports and a judicial process on the allegations revealed that the campaign had three objectives, including discrediting Albayrak, who is credited with a string of successes, during his tenures both as finance minister and as minister of energy and natural resources. The campaign also aimed to perpetrate economic chaos, to scare away foreign investors by hurting Türkiye’s financial reputation. Finally, it also aimed to mobilize the crowds to overthrow the government as was the case during the 2013 Gezi Park riots, which originally began as a protest by environmentalists before it was hijacked by terrorist groups.