The dismissed mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu has been sentenced by the Civil Court in Istanbul to pay 150 thousand Turkish liras or nearly 3 thousand euros in compensation to the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a defamation case, the Turkish state television “TRT Haber“ reported, quoted by BTA.
The lawsuit was filed because of words used in a post on Ekrem Imamoglu's social media profile on March 20, 2025, after his arrest and removal from office as mayor of Istanbul, which Erdogan considered to be aimed at his personal and his professional life.
At the last hearing of the case, the parties were represented in court by their defense attorneys. Erdogan's attorney Ferah Yildiz stated that with his words, Ekrem İmamoğlu had openly targeted both the Turkish president and the institutions. According to Erdogan's attorney, the other party had not presented any evidence to support its claims. İmamoğlu's attorney, in turn, requested that the case be postponed.
However, the judge recalled what he had said at previous hearings - that if the parties (Erdoğan and İmamoğlu - editor's note) did not appear in the courtroom, a decision would be made without them being heard.
When announcing the decision, the judge stated that the claim had been partially upheld and İmamoğlu would have to pay 150,000 Turkish liras in compensation to Erdogan out of the 250,000 Turkish liras requested, or nearly 5,000 euros.