Turkey: Opposition CHP leader to pay over false claims

By Filiz Kinik and Ali Cevahir Akturk

ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court on Thursday sentenced Turkey’s main opposition leader to pay damages to the president over false claims of money transfers.

The Anadolu 15th Civil Court of First Instance ordered Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal Kilicdaroglu to pay 190,000 Turkish liras (approx. $36,770) over his claims that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made illicit money transfers to the Isle of Man, a British crown dependency.

Kilicdaroglu was asked to pay for attacking the personal rights of Erdogan and his relatives.

The CHP head made the claims in a speech on a TV channel in December 2017.

Previously, he was ordered in five different suites to pay damages to the president and his relatives for making similar claims.