WikiLeaks: Turkish PM Threatens to Sue Diplomats for Slander in Cables
December 3, 2010
By Aaron Eitan Meyer
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a complex figure, charismatic, ambitious, and “in short, a natural politician.” If we weren’t generally aware of that fact, a series of confidential cables released by Wikileaks makes it abundantly clear – and Erdogan is not only livid, but is looking to use the controversy to his political, and legal, advantage.
In a televised address, even as he attempted to dismiss the confidential cables as “gossip,” Erdogan threatened to sue United States diplomats over comments made as far back as 2004 for “slander” and warned the Turkish media that it would be ‘immoral’ to write about the subject without first asking him. Assuming that Erdogan’s threats are more than mere bluster, and considering his history of filing defamation suits against Turkish media, his threats to sue distinctly sound like lawfare in the making.