Turkish PM accepts substantial Telegraph libel damages

Daily Telegraph settles undisclosed amount

By Oliver Luft Published 03 March 2011

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey, has taken substantial undisclosed libel damages from the Daily Telegraph after it alleged he accepted a donation to his political party from Iran.

Justice Tugendhat at London's High Court was told that Erdogan had been seriously injured in his reputation both personally and as a politician by the "false and defamatory" publication in the Telegraph last year.

Counsel Emma Edhem said today that Erdogan, who leads the ruling AK Parti, had also suffered considerable distress and embarrassment when the Telegraph published its story on 15 September.

The article alleged he had improperly negotiated and accepted a donation of $25m to his political party from a foreign state, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in order to further its campaign in a forthcoming general election.

1 comment

Mon, 2011-03-07 02:37 — Ivan Miletitch

The reputation of a Turkish politician.... yeah right .....the question isn't to know if his reputatuion has suffered or not, it is to find out if the allegation is true or not! Don't forget that corruption is rife in Turkey (& in the Balkan for that matter....remember the Kosovo 'president' Hashim Thaci implicated in weapon & organ trafficking in 2010) so I would like to find out more about these alledged iranian donations! (especially in view of Turkey's wish to join the EU....pleeeaase !!)