HAYRI DEMIR
A news story on Halk TV mistakenly attributing a former AK Party member's insult to Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu led to the channel incurring a 15,000 TL fine. The mix-up occurred in a report following the devastating February 6 earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, where İmamoğlu faced verbal abuse.
After the February 6 earthquakes last year, which claimed thousands of lives, İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu visited the disaster zone in Kahramanmaraş. During his visit, former AK Party MP Nursel Reyhanlıoğlu confronted İmamoğlu, shouting comments like, "Why are you roaming Turkey? Take care of Istanbul. Don't come here, get out. Don't show off here." İmamoğlu responded, "You are not normal," leading Reyhanlıoğlu to call him "a normal person, get out. A lackey of the English."
Name confusion in the report
In its coverage of the altercation on February 9, Halk TV erroneously identified the remarks as coming from Habibe Öçal, another AK Party MP from Kahramanmaraş, stating, "Once again, there are controversial images. To be honest, we shouldn't waste time on these during earthquake days, but statements by Justice and Development Party Kahramanmaraş MP Habibe Öçal in the earthquake zone about Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, calling him a lackey of the English..."
Fine for Halk TV following mistaken identity
Habibe Öçal, through her lawyer, filed a lawsuit for 100,000 TL in moral damages against Halk TV at the Ankara On-Call Civil Court of First Instance, citing "defamation through false news." The Ankara 41st Civil Court of First Instance, after hearing the case on March 13, concluded that Halk TV's report wrongly named Öçal instead of Reyhanlıoğlu as the person who made the insulting comments. The court then ordered Halk TV to pay a fine of 15,000 TL.
Halk TV's lawyers are planning to appeal the decision.
