Former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım won a defamation lawsuit against his predecessor Ahmet Davutoğlu, pro-government columnist Abdülkadir Selvi revealed.
According to a court document published by Selvi, an Ankara court in March 2023 ordered Davutoğlu to pay 20,000 Turkish liras in moral damages. Yıldırım had originally filed a 150,000-lira lawsuit in 2022 following remarks Davutoğlu reportedly made in Bingöl in 2021.
Following Selvi’s article, Davutoğlu’s lawyer Hasan Seymen issued a clarification. Seymen said that the lawsuit relates to a speech Davutoğlu delivered in 2022 in Diyarbakır — rather than 2021 in Bingöl — though the statements cited in the court documents match exactly those made in a video that circulated recently, purportedly from Bingöl. Seymen added that the judgment is not final.
'The decision has not yet been formally served to us and has not been finalized through the appellate court process,' Seymen said.
The legal rift resurfaced recently after a video of Davutoğlu’s statements circulated on social media, prompting prosecutors to summon him. The questioning made Davutoğlu, in his own words, the first former prime minister in modern history to testify before a prosecutor due to political criticism.
The lawsuit stems from comments in which Davutoğlu targeted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his family, and Yıldırım over corruption allegations.
'If I had not objected, do you know what would have happened?' Davutoğlu said at the time. 'I would not have lost my prime ministry. I would sit back and multiply my billions like the prime minister after me.'
Davutoğlu was forced to step down by Erdoğan in 2016 and was succeeded by Yıldırım.
Davutoğlu also accused officials of enriching relatives and handing state resources to a handful of contractors. Appearing before the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office last week, Davutoğlu stood by his statements.
