Journalist Çiğdem Toker was ordered to pay TL 30,000 in non-pecuniary damages over an article she penned

The eight hearing of a compensation lawsuit filed by The Turkish Technology Team (T3) Foundation against Çiğdem Toker, a columnist for Sözcü newspaper, over her article titled “İBB’den Vakıflara Hizmet Raporu” (“The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Prepares Report on Its Services to Foundations”) which was published on 28 January 2019, was held on 31 March 2022 at İstanbul’s Küçükçekmece 10th Civil Court. The T3 Foundation was seeking TL 80,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage in the lawsuit.

Toker did not attend the hearing; her lawyer Fahri Emeksiz was present in the courtroom. Also in attendance was lawyer Burçin Altan, representing the T3 Foundation.

Lawyer Altan addressed the court, and claimed that Toker had violated the principles of journalism. “The defendant did not report the apparent truth. Within the scope of press freedom, a journalist has an obligation to investigate the news she has obtained. We demand that the defendant, who has violated the journalistic principles, be ordered to pay compensation for her wrongful act,” said Altan.

Toker’s lawyer, Emeksiz, addressed the court next and recalled the Turkish press legislation, stating that compliance with the apparent truth was sufficient as per the legislation to report a news story. “The incident, the subject matter of the case, is a matter that has been laid down in the parliamentary minutes, and discussed there. Therefore, we demand that the court dismiss the case within the framework of freedom of the press,” Emeksiz said.

Announcing its verdict at the end of the hearing, the court ruled to partially accept the case, and ordered Toker to pay TL 30,000 (1850 euros) to the T3 Foundation in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

Toker attacked by president's son-in-law after verdict 

Following the verdict, the T3 Foundation called Toker a "slanderer" for her report in a Twitter post, saying it would use the money to support a scholarship program dedicated to "raise journalists who will not compromise on ethics and morality" and adding #JournalismIsNotSlandering. 

Selçuk Bayraktar, a top executive of the T3 Foundation and a son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, also targeted Toker, calling her a "liar" and "a sorry excuse for a journalist." "Journalism is not lying, fraud, lack of shame and dignity either," he wrote on Twitter. 

Toker's column from 2019 addressed the allegations that the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality funds were allocated to pro-government foundations. Citing an internal report of the municipality, which was controlled by Erdoğan's AKP at the time, Toker wrote that İBB had transferred substantial amounts of funds to foundations run by people who are close to Erdoğan, including TÜGVA, TÜRGEV, T3, Ensar and Okçular.  

The lawyers for the T3 Foundation filed a complaint against Toker following the publication of her article. In their petition, the lawyers argued that “statements that impugned the honour and dignity of the foundation were employed without relying on documents and concrete evidence” in the article. “It is necessary to question the patriotism of the newspaper executives who published this story and the writer of the article,” the complaint read.