GUL WINS LAWSUIT AGAINST CHP’S ARITMAN
Today’s Zaman
March 26 3009
Turkey
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has won a lawsuit against Republican
People’s Party (CHP) deputy from Ä°zmir Canan Aritman, who claimed
that Gul’s mother was Armenian.
Aritman will be required to pay Gul a symbolic TL 1, which is all
the president asked for in the suit. "Arıtman, who had political
motivations, caused doubts about the performance of the president,
who has non-political responsibilities," the lawsuit had charged.
The president’s lawyer, Omer Kucuközcan, and Arıtman’s lawyer,
Rezzan Aydınoglu, attended the hearing at the Ankara 2nd Civil Court
of First Instance. After hearing final statements from both sides,
the judge ruled against Arıtman.
On Dec. 17 of last year Arıtman attacked a campaign initiated by
a group of intellectuals to apologize for the killings of Anatolian
Armenians in 1915, which Armenians claim constituted genocide. "We
see that the president supports this campaign. Abdullah Gul should be
the president of the entire Turkish nation, not just of those sharing
his ethnicity. Investigate the ethnic origin of the president’s mother
and you will see," she had said.