Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan files criminal complaint against Dutch opposition leader Geert Wilders after he called Erdogan a “terrorist”

Erdogan’s lawyer filed a complaint against Wilders for insulting the president, a crime that is punishable by up to four years in Turkey under Article 299 of the Turkish penal code. Erdogan’s lawyer has filed a complaint against Wilders over a series of tweets that the latter had posted calling Turkey’s president “mad terrorist.” 

Reuters Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint with Turkish authorities against Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders saying that he had insulted him on social media, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

Wilders is one of Europe’s most prominent Counter-jihadists and has been a key figure in shaping the Muslim immigration debate in the Netherlands over the past decade.

On Saturday Wilders posted a cartoon picture of Erdogan and captioned it “terrorist”. 

On Monday he posted an image of a sinking ship with a Turkish flag on it. “Bye bye @RTErdogan. Kick Turkey out of NATO,” he said under the image.

Erdogan’s lawyers filed a lawsuit with prosecutors in Ankara on Tuesday, saying Turkish courts had jurisdiction on the matter because the insults were directed at Turkey’s president, Anadolu reported, citing the document filed by the lawyers.

“Even though the crime was committed directly against the person in the presidential seat, the value that is being violated is the state’s political government structure,” the lawyers said, according to Anadolu.

They said the comments by Wilders could not be viewed as freedom expression and that Wilders had targeted Erdogan’s “honour, dignity, character and reputation”.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the lawsuit as unacceptable.

STOPerdogan Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is backing his national MP Geert Wilders who, after calling Erdogan “a tyrant, a dictator and a terrorist” in a tweet, is being now being sued by the Turkish president.

In a TV interview where he justified his statement, Wilders said “It is evident from the fact there are hundreds of publications, and investigations which show that he has supported ISIS and Al Qaeda, and that jihadists come and go in and out of Turkey to Syria, to Europe.” Considering all he is doing to support terrorists, Wilders added, he is clearly one himself.

The interviewer then stated, “It is much clearer that he has openly supported Hamas, so your assertion is correct.” Wilders continued “Yes, he supports Hamas, who are terrorists. He also supports the Azeris, Azerbaijan in the fight against Armenia. He sits with his finger in the middle wherever it leads to misery and terror. From ISIS to Azerbaijan against Armenia in Nagorno-Karabagh, to Hamas”.

“Erdogan seems to be saying: No criticism of me, no criticism of Islam. If you do that, then I will pursue you in your own country, and maybe beyond. And that goes not just for me, but for anyone, also people like you, journalists, other people who want to be critical, and we cannot accept that. So it is not just about me. It is about freedom of speech”.

Turkey’s increasing disregard for human rights issues including freedom of speech and freedom of the press defines the increasingly authoritarian era of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The International Press Institute (IPI) published a report titled “Turkey’s Journalists on the Ropes,” on Wednesday December 2 which details Erdogan’s sustained throttling of the freedom of press.

The report was supported and funded by the EU, along with 11 international organizations which work towards reinstating freedom of speech and human rights. These included the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), PEN International, Reporters without Borders (RSF) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO).

The report highlighted, “Turkey’s press freedom crisis is worsening amid growing state capture of media, the lack of independence of regulatory institutions, and a new social media law designed to clamp down on the remaining spaces for free comment.” It added that the most frightening aspect of the current scenario was its control over the judiciary which all the more enables Erdogan to limit the freedom of press.

“The government is determined to use all available tools to suppress criticism whether on broadcasters, in print and online,” IPI head of Europe Advocacy Oliver Money-Kyrle said in a press release announcing the report. “The international community and the European Union, in particular, must be prepared to make improved relations contingent on an end to the media crackdown and improved human rights in general.”

We look forward to seeing how Erdogan’s legal challenge to Wilders pans out. Armed with myriad evidence such as that published by IPI and many others, it surely will not be difficult to demonstrate that Erdogan can justifiably be called a  tyrant and dictator, irrespective of Wilders’ right to practice freedom of speech in doing so.

When it comes to labelling Erdogan as a terrorist, things are just as clear. Turkey has worked with Islamist groups and has supported militant organizations in the Middle East for years, according to the German government. The view was expressed in a confidential response from the interior ministry to parliamentary questions from left-wing party Die Linke. The ministry added that Erdogan has actively supported cooperation with Islamist and terrorist organizations, such as Hamas.

“The many expressions of solidarity and support actions for the Egyptian MB [Muslim Brotherhood], Hamas and the armed Islamist opposition groups in Syria by the ruling AK Party and President Erdogan emphasise the ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood,” the ministry statement said.

The statement, based on information from Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), added that “as a result of the gradually Islamized domestic and foreign policy of Ankara since 2011, Turkey has become the central platform for action for Islamist groups in the Middle East.”

Erdogan is a terrorist. There. We said it. Good luck with that law suit.

Republic World Wilders, a populist anti-Islamization politician is known for his attacks on Islam and Turkey’s extremist Muslim leader. Wilders had once held a competition for caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. “My speech in the Dutch parliament today about the brutal and barbaric murder of Samuel Paty, the importance of freedom of speech, the dangers of Islam and the mad terrorist Erdogan who filed a criminal complaint against me,” Wilders wrote on Twitter sharing the video of his speech in the Dutch parliament.