Court dismisses lawsuit filed by Demirören Media against journalist Canan Kaya
İstanbul - Trial where Medya Koridoru news site Editor-in-Chief Canan Kaya and four other company representatives are sued by Demirören Media Conglomerate with a request for reparations was dismissed by the Bakırköy 6th Civil Court of First Instance.
Besides Medya Koridoru news website Editor-in-Chief Canan Kaya, İleri Haber, Tele 1, Aykırı Haber and Ajanspress; Zeynep Tüzer who was dismissed from her job as a private security guard at Demirören Media were among those sued by the company.
Third hearing of the trial was held today at Bakırköy Courthouse and was joined by journalist Canan Kaya, whom the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) defends, defense lawyers Kevser Geçer, Melike Öztürk, Zelal Pelin Doğan, Bilgütay Hakkı Durna and plaintiff’s lawyer Merve Kırca.
Demirören Media had claimed that the May 2020-dated news report titled “Female staffer forced to resign for having her shoes on the executive floor!” “tarnishes the commercial reputation of the company,” constitutes an attack on personal rights while exceeding the scope of press freedom.
Underscoring the factuality of the news report, lawyer Zelal Pelin Doğan said, “The case file before the İstanbul 24th Labour Court verifies the accuracy of the report. Moreover the news report does not constitute a violation of personal rights. It falls under the scope of freedom of expression. We demand the dismissal of the lawsuit.”
“This lawsuit was filed in order to intimidate the client for filing a lawsuit before the labour court. We demand this case be dismissed,” Zeynep Tüzer’s lawyer said.
The court decided to dismiss the case on the grounds of waiver with respect to defendant Batuhan Çolak and Ajanspress. In addition to ruling for the dismissal of the case with respect to Tele 1 on the grounds of ill will, the court dismissed the case on merits, with respect to the remaining defendants.