Karabay is accused of making an "unjust attack on personal rights" in relation to eight tweets, one of which referred to the “Pelikan” group, which is believed to exert influence over the judiciary
EYLEM SONBAHAR
In the trial where journalist Furkan Karabay is being tried for social media posts criticizing the influence of a power group over the judiciary, an objection claiming that courts in Istanbul's Anatolian side should have jurisdiction was dismissed. The next hearing will be held on October 19.
The first hearing of the libel lawsuit against Karabay, editor at Gerçek Gündem, was held at the Istanbul 1st Civil Court of First Instance.
Karabay is accused of making an "unjust attack on personal rights" in relation to eight tweets, one of which stated, 'There is a group in the judiciary known as "Pelikan"'.
Pelikan is an alleged group in Turkey, which became known publicly after an article published at a website named as 'Pelican File' (Pelikan Dosyası) on 1 May 2016, which triggered a process that resulted with resignation of Ahmet Davutoğlu. The Pelikan group is allegedly structured around Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his brother Serhat Albayrak.
These tweets were cited as the reason for the lawsuit brought by Mustafa Doğan İnal, former attorney to Erdoğan.
Journalist Karabay did not attend the hearing, but his attorney, Enes Hikmet Ermaner, was present.
Melike Nur Bak, the attorney for Mustafa Doğan İnal, requested the court to "collect our uncollected evidence and decide to accept the lawsuit."
Karabay's attorney Ermaner argued, "Given that both parties' residence is on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, the competent courts are the Anatolian courts of Istanbul. First, decide to dismiss the case on procedural grounds; if your court is of a different opinion, decide to dismiss it on substantive grounds."
The court dismissed the jurisdiction objection, citing that "under Article 25 of the Turkish Civil Code and Article 16 of the Civil Procedure Code, all places where social media posts are made must be accepted as competent local courts." The hearing has been postponed to October 19.
