Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the former leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is facing a new defamation lawsuit filed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after Kılıçdaroğlu reiterated in court that Erdoğan is a “thief,” which was the basis of an ongoing criminal trial where Kılıçdaroğlu is accused of insulting the president.
Erdoğan’s lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, announced Monday that a civil lawsuit seeking TL 500,000 (approximately $14,500) in damages had been filed against Kılıçdaroğlu for statements made during a court defense on Friday.
The legal complaint claims that Kılıçdaroğlu’s repeated accusations, including calling Erdoğan a “thief” and “chief thief,” constituted a severe violation of Erdoğan’s personal rights and dignity.
The defamation suit comes amid an ongoing criminal case in which Kılıçdaroğlu is charged with “publicly insulting a public official” for similar remarks made some years earlier, stemming from the politically charged 2013 corruption probes. If convicted in the criminal case, Kılıçdaroğlu faces up to 11 years and 8 months in prison and a potential political ban.
Kılıçdaroğlu, who led the CHP for over a decade and ran as the opposition bloc’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has long accused Erdoğan of corruption.
The charges in the criminal trial stem from remarks made after corruption probes, known as the December 17-25 investigations, were revealed in 2013 and he referred to Erdoğan, then prime minister, as “Başçalan,” a term that translates to “chief thief.”
Erdoğan has consistently denied the claims, calling the investigations a plot orchestrated by the faith-based Gülen movement, a former ally he now accuses of trying to overthrow his government.
The criminal case against Kılıçdaroğlu centers on Kılıçdaroğlu’s use of terms like “chief thief,” in speeches and public statements.
Last week, during his defense in the criminal trial, Kılıçdaroğlu repeated the allegations, stating, “I am standing here not as someone accused of theft or embezzlement,” he said, “but as someone who dared to call a thief a thief.”
In a statement posted on social media, Aydın, Erdoğan’s lawyer, said Kılıçdaroğlu’s courtroom remarks were a clear abuse of the right to defense.
“The statements made in court constitute a continuation of the same baseless accusations that have violated our president’s personal rights for years,” Aydın said. He noted that Erdoğan had previously withdrawn all lawsuits against opposition figures in the spirit of reconciliation following a failed coup attempt in 2016, which he blames on the faith-based Gülen movement, but Kılıçdaroğlu’s continued behavior left no alternative but to seek legal redress.
“Even after eight years, there has been no improvement in Kılıçdaroğlu’s conduct, which has devolved into a persistent pattern of crude and offensive rhetoric,” Aydın said. The statement also indicated that Erdoğan’s team had filed a separate criminal complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office over the same remarks.
Kılıçdaroğlu’s lawyer, Celal Çelik, dismissed the new lawsuit as an attempt to suppress legitimate criticism and insisted his client would not back down. “Hearing the truth and facing proof of corruption may be uncomfortable for Erdoğan, but we will not take even a single step back,” Çelik said in a statement posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Describing Kılıçdaroğlu’s trial defense as a “manifesto,” Çelik vowed to continue presenting evidence of corruption and abuse of power. “We will repeatedly exercise our right to prove the truth,” he said. “Erdoğan’s distress at these revelations only confirms our righteousness.”
After losing the 2023 presidential election to Erdoğan, Kılıçdaroğlu had to step down as CHP leader but has remained an influential figure in opposition politics.