Main Opposition Head Sells House to Pay Compensation for ‘Slandering Erdogan’

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu had to sell one of his houses in order to pay compensation to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after the latter filed a lawsuit against him on the grounds that he “slandered the president”, the Milliyet daily reported on Sunday.

In the latest of 29 complaints filed by Erdogan against Kilicdaroglu regarding his critical remarks, the president accused the CHP leader of falsely claiming that people from his close relatives transferred huge sums of money to Isle of Man.

According to a Milliyet column by Talat Atilla, Kilicdaroglu had to sell a house he owned in the coastal town of Burhaniye so that he could pay the compensation ruled by the court, which was set as 1 million 500 thousand TL (268,200 USD).

Atilla claimed in his column that Kilicdaroglu himself confirmed the allegation that he sold the house for 500 thousand TL and added that to the amount he gathered to pay the compensation. Atilla added that the main opposition leader also paid his son’s wedding expense with part of the money he acquired from the sale.

Atilla wrote that he investigated the claim following Erdogan’s recent implication that the CHP leader might have paid him a series of compensations from his party’s funds.

According to the column, Kilicdaroglu originally denied responding to the question, saying it is private, however he eventually admitted that he sold his house for the above mentioned two purposes.

The “Isle of Man” debate became a hot topic in Turkey in November 2017, after Kilicdaroglu alleged that the president’s family sent millions of dollars to an offshore company based on the island.

Erdogan later brought the issue to an Istanbul court, which decided that the allegations were “completely baseless” and it was determined that no such money transfer took place.

Turkey’s Opposition CHP Re-Elects Kilicdaroglu as Chairman