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Turkey’s Anadolu Agency said on Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed a lawsuit in the Turkish judiciary against Dutch right-wing extremist Geert Wilders, saying he insulted him on social media.
Wilders is one of Europe’s most prominent far-right politicians and has been a key figure in sparking the immigration controversy in the Netherlands over the past decade, although he has never been involved in government.
On Saturday, Wilders posted a cartoon of Erdogan with the words “terrorist” underneath.
On Monday, he also posted a photo of a sinking ship while raising the Turkish flag. Below he wrote: “Goodbye Erdogan. Expel Turkey from NATO.”
According to Anadolu Agency, citing the document presented by the lawyers, Erdogan’s lawyers filed a lawsuit with the Ankara Public Ministry on Tuesday, saying that the Turkish courts are competent in this case because the insults were directed at the Turkish president.
The lawyers said, according to the agency, that “although the crime was committed against the person who occupies the presidential seat, the value that was attacked is the political structure of the state government.”
They added that Wilders’ comments could not be considered as freedom of expression and that Wilders had targeted Erdogan’s “honor, dignity, personality and reputation.”
Ankara is a constant critic of the views and policies of Wilders, the leader of the Freedom Party in the Netherlands.
On Sunday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described him as a “loser racist” trying to win support with hostility towards Islam and foreigners.
“It is time for Europe to stop its corrupt fascist politicians,” Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter.
