The Istanbul provincial chair of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Canan Kaftancıoğlu, was ordered on Thursday to pay TL 56,000 ($6,791) in compensation to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in light of the insulting posts she shared on social media.
Erdoğan's lawyers, Ferah Yıldız and Ümit Kudbay attended the decision hearing at Büyükçekmece 6th Civil Court of First Instance, where Kaftancıoğlu's lawyer, Mehmet Süleyman Türker, was in attendance.
Erdoğan's lawyers demanded compensation for each tort, while Kaftancıoğlu's lawyer requested the dismissal of the case as his client had intended no insult.
The court ordered the defendant Kaftancıoğlu pay TL 56,000 to Erdoğan for non-pecuniary damages.
Kaftancıoğlu shared many tweets insulting tweets about the president that caused her to be sued. For instance, back in 2014, Kaftancıoğlu tweeted: "'Where are you Erdoğan, God damn you!' is our new slogan now!" In another 2016 tweet, she shared an image of writing on a street insulting not only Erdoğan but his mother.
The CHP's Istanbul head has become a highly controversial figure in Turkish society thanks to her questionable comments and actions. She previously expressed support for the PKK terrorist group's leader Sakine Cansız, who was assassinated in Paris in a likely internal feud in 2013. Two days after the murder, Kaftancıoğlu wrote on her Twitter account that "humanity is lost," citing one of Cansız's statements on women.
She has even seen strong backlash from the CHP's own voter base but kept her seat despite serious challenges. During the campaign period for the March 31 elections, she announced that she would be resigning from her post in reaction to the choice of mayoral candidates. However, she later withdrew her resignation.
The CHP was criticized for its unofficial alliance with the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the local elections.
