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President Erdogan threatens to sue anyone who insults him

He has said criticism is acceptable - but insulting him isn't

Friday 01 April 2016 13:59 BST

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in attendance at the Nuclear Security Summit at the White House in Washington last week (Reuters)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signalled another crackdown on freedom of speech with a threat to take legal action against anyone who insults him

Speaking at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC, Mr Erdoğan thanked those who "criticise" him but re-iterated his hard-line approach towards the Turkish media.

He has come under international scrutiny following the imprisonment of a number of journalists and other leading opposition critics on "terrorism" charges.

Mr Erdoğan said: "I would (thank) each and everyone one of those who criticise me but if they were to insult me, my lawyers will go and file a lawsuit."

A Turkish court has resumed closed-door trial of the two journalists for publishing footage that purportedly showed Turkey’s intelligence agency shipping truckloads of weapons to opposition fighters in Syria in early 2014.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

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1/8Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

Just a week before he was elected President, he called Erdogan Amberin Zaman, the Turkey correspondent for 'The Economist', a "shameless militant woman disguised under the name of a journalist" after she had asked an opposition leader whether "Muslim society is able to question" the authorities. "Know your place," Erdoğan said. "They gave you a pen and you are writing a column in a newspaper. "And then they invite you to a TV channel owned by Doğan media group and you insult at a society of 99 per cent Muslims," he said he said according to Today's Zaman newspaper.

Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

Turkish people are pictured chanting slogans during an anti-government protest on Taksim square in Istanbul, on 29 June, 2013. The protests were sparked by brutal police action against a local conservation battle to save Istanbul's Gezi Park, and soon turned into nationwide demonstrations against the government. Amid the protests - the worst in Turkey for years - Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "arm-in-arm with terrorism," according to Reuters. "This is a protest organized by extremist elements. We will not give away anything to those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism," he said.

GURCAN OZTURK/AFP/Getty Images

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

During last year’s protests, activists used social media to organise and disseminate information. Several dozen tweeters were arrested following the protests, according to local media reports. Erdogan responded by calling the technology a "menace". "There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society," BBC New reported.

Vladimir Astapkovich/RIA Novosti via Getty Images

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

Not helping to allay accusations of authoritarianism, after Turkish police detained 49 people, including well-known business people and those close to the ruling party, Erdeogan ominously told reporter that Turkey "is not a banana republic" that can be affected by unnamed "operations", according to Today's Zaman newspaper. “People who are backed by the media and certain funders cannot change this country," he said. "People backed by certain dark gangs both inside and outside Turkey cannot mess with the country's path. They cannot change conditions in Turkey. Turkey is not a country that anyone can launch an operation into. The [Turkish] nation will not allow that. The AK Party, which is governing this nation, will not allow this."

Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

Friends and relatives of the miners who died in an explosion at the Soma mine are pictured praying following the burial in Soma cemetery of the last body to be recovered from the mine in May 2014. At the time, the then-Prime Minister badly misjudged the Soma mining disaster, in which 301 workers died. He told the relatives of dead and dying miners that "these types of incidents are ordinary things", following allegations that the government had ignored safety concerns about the privately owned mine, the Guardian reported. In his defence, Erdogan recounted in a separate speech a list of mining disasters which occurred abroad, including a British disaster in 1862, and one in America "which has every kind of technology".

Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

Palestinians pictured attending Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City. As Prime Minister, Erdogan has condemned Israel, accusing it of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers and warned that the it would "drown in the blood it sheds." Speaking to thousands of supporters during a rally in Istanbul ahead of the 10 August election, Reuters reported him as saying: "Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target." "They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won't grow up; they kill men so they can't defend their country ... They will drown in the blood they shed," he said.

AP

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

Amid the worst protests in Turkey for years which had spread across dozens of cities last June, Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "arm-in-arm with terrorism," according to Reuters. A demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbul square grew into mass protests against a heavy-handed police crackdown and what opponents called Erdogan's authoritarian policies. "This is a protest organized by extremist elements," Erdogan said before departing on a trip to North Africa. "We will not give away anything to those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism," he said.

Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes

The Turkish President's craziest quotes

In March 2014, Erdogan accused a 15-year-old boy who died from injuries sustained in last year's anti-government protests of being linked to terrorism. Berkin Elvan, who became a symbol of anti-government protests, had gone to pick up bread when he was hit with a teargas canister - sending him into a nine-month coma before he passed away. In a speech broadcast on state TV, Erdogan said of Berkin: "This kid with steel marbles in his pockets, with a slingshot in his hand, his face covered with a scarf, who had been taken up into terror organisations, was unfortunately subjected to pepper gas. “How could the police determine how old that person was who had a scarf on his face and was hurling steel marbles with a slingshot in his hand?”

ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images

Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, and Erdem Gul, the newspaper's Ankara bureau chief, have been charged with trying to topple the government by publishing a video purporting to show Turkey's state intelligence agency helping to truck weapons to Syria in 2014.

Mr Erdoğan has vowed Dundar will "pay a heavy price". The two journalists could face life in prison if convicted.

At the Washington summit, Turkish security personnel tried to block three Turkish journalists from covering the event, held at the Brookings Institution think tank.

Adem Yavuz Arslan, a reporter with Turkish opposition newspaper Ozgur Dusunce said the security guards threatened him.

Mr Arslan said: "They said, 'We are going to kill you. You are a terrorist."

Since becoming President in August 2014, Mr Erdoğan has filed 1,845 court cases against individuals for insulting him.

Speaking at the summit, he said there are no journalists currently in Turkish prisons for doing their jobs.

Mr Erdoğan added that most of the 52 journalists in Turkish prisons have been convicted on or face terrorism charges.

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