The European court issued a statement earlier in February, saying Turkey has violated the right to free speech of Erbil Tusalp, who was sentenced by a Turkish court in 2008 to pay about USD 5,700 in compensation to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for writing articles “critical” of the premier.
Tusalp’s two articles were published in the Turkish Birgun daily in 2004 and 2005.
The Turkish court ruled that Tusalp’s remarks were “beyond the acceptable limits of criticism.”
However, the European court said in its statement that the remarks highlighted by the Turkish court could not “be construed as a gratuitous personal attack against the prime minister.”
HSN/PKH/IS
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