Turkey: Journalist fined over 'adultery' comments

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has successfully sued a journalist who criticised government attempts to criminalise adultery by saying the premier had reduced politics to the “level of the crotch”.

The premier, who once was imprisoned for reciting a poem deemed to be an attack on the state, is coming under intense criticism for what journalist groups have called an increasing disregard for press freedoms.

An Istanbul court ruled in favour of Erdogan, saying veteran journalist Fikret Otyam had “violated personal rights”, and ordered the 80-year-old to pay €2,200 in compensation for the article published in left-wing weekly Aydinlik.

In the article, Otyam had said the government’s efforts to pass legislation to make adultery a crime had reduced “the EU issue to the level of the crotch of men and women”.

The government backed away from the adultery legislation under European Union pressure in October.

“I would not dream of insulting the prime minister. I just supported him in a humorous way,” Otyam said.