A chemical company, TSM Brands, has filed a lawsuit seeking 1 million Turkish lira ($25,000) in non-pecuniary damages against journalists Murat Ağırel, Barış Pehlivan, Timur Soykan, Barış Terkoğlu and Şule Aydın, alleging that remarks made during an Onlar TV broadcast violated the company's personal rights. The case was dismissed on procedural grounds at its first hearing.
ISTANBUL — TSM Brands, a chemical company based in Turkey, sued the five journalists over comments made during an Onlar TV program titled "What will the next move be?" that aired on Sept. 15.
The broadcast focused on legal proceedings and ongoing controversy surrounding the Republican People's Party's (CHP) 38th Ordinary Congress, a party gathering that has been the subject of political and judicial disputes in Turkey.
During the program, journalist Barış Terkoğlu said that lawyer Onur Yusuf Üregen, who is involved in lawsuits concerning the CHP congress, also serves on the disciplinary board of the Homeland and National Party (Yerli ve Milli Parti). Terkoğlu noted that Üregen had described the CHP as an "organized crime organization" and discussed Homeland and National Party leader Teoman Mutlu in connection with those ties.
Terkoğlu also described the Homeland and National Party as a "signboard party" — a Turkish term used for a party with little political presence — and said Mutlu had been penalized for "fictitious exports." Citing a news report published by Halk TV, he said he later researched companies that he believed were linked to Mutlu.
The damages lawsuit was filed by TSM Brands over remarks made during those discussions about businessman and politician Teoman Mutlu.
According to the company's petition, a statement made during the broadcast — "I looked into Teoman Mutlu's company. He has a factory in Çerkezköy" — was inaccurate. The company argued that Mutlu is neither an authorized representative nor a board member of TSM Brands, but was nevertheless portrayed during the broadcast as if he owned or managed the company.
The petition also objected to several comments made later in the program, arguing that they targeted the company's commercial activities. TSM Brands said remarks including "the kind of suitcase trade you know," "this is not proper trade," "what we call suitcase trade," and "there is an address, an organization where trade is conducted without invoices" damaged its corporate reputation.
The company argued that the statements associated it with illegal or unregistered commercial activity and therefore harmed its business standing.
In its filing, TSM Brands alleged that the broadcast created a negative public perception of the company, that the remarks exceeded the limits of criticism and freedom of expression, and that they constituted an attack on its personal rights. The company sought 1 million Turkish lira in non-pecuniary damages, plus legal interest accruing from the date of the broadcast, to be collected jointly from the defendants.
Lawsuit dismissed on procedural grounds
The petition also noted that a criminal complaint had been filed with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against the journalists over the same broadcast.
The first hearing in the case was held on Tuesday. The court accepted a jurisdictional objection raised by defense counsel Özge Naz Akkaya and dismissed the case on procedural grounds. The court ruled that, if requested, the case file should be transferred to the Anatolian Civil Court of First Instance on duty.
