ANKARA—Turkish-Armenian journalist Hayko Bagdat filed a criminal complaint and countersued Ankara Mayor Ibrahim Melih Gokcek on the grounds of hate speech against Armenians, reported Today’s Zaman. Bagdat filed the lawsuit based on remarks Gokcek made on social media, which specifically targeted Armenian citizens in Turkey.
Hayko Bagdat (Photo: cumhuriyet.com.tr)
The lawsuit comes months after Gokcek filed a formal complaint on defamation charges against Bagdat because he called him an Armenian.
In March, Gokcek had asked the co-chairman of the Green Party in Germany co-chairman Cem Ozdemir whether he was an Armenian, after Ozdemir called on Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide. In response, Bagdat posted a number of tweets, and used a hashtag #melihgökçekermeniymiş (Melih Gokcek turns out to be Armenian), which Gokcek referenced in his lawsuit.
Gokcek’s petition to the court stated: “The statements [by Bagdat] are false and include insult and libel.” Gokcek also demanded 10,000 Turkish Liras in compensation under a civil lawsuit against Bagdat for psychological damages and defamation.
This is not the first time Gokcek has been involved in controversy over statements made on social media. In early July 2014 Gokcek supported anti-Semitic tweets made by Turkish singer Yildiz Tilbe, which read “God bless Hitler, it was not enough what he did to the Jews, he was right” and “The Jews will be destroyed by Muslims, in the name of Allah, not much time left for it to be done.” Gokcek retweeted the racist statements and even responded to one, saying “I applaud you.”
Ankara Mayor Ibrahim Melih Gokcek (Photo: melihgokcek.com
Gokcek, who is a member of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been the mayor of Ankara since 1994. Since first being elected, Gokcek was re-elected in 1999, 2004, 2009, and most recently in 2014, when he was controversially declared the winner.
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