The new Turkey
Çiğdem Toker.
Cumhuriyet columnist

29-Dec-2019 10:58

17 October 2019:

Court dismisses TL 1.5M lawsuit against Çiğdem Toker 

The fourth hearing of a lawsuit against journalist and columnist Çiğdem Toker over a 2017 article she penned for Cumhuriyet daily took place on 17 October 2019 at the 13th Civil Court of First Instance of Ankara.

P24 monitored the hearing, where Toker and her lawyer were in attendance. The lawyer representing the claimant did not attend. The court therefore dismissed the case. The claimant, a mining company, sought a record TL 1.5 million in non-pecuniary damages over Toker’s article.

9 July 2019:

Compensation case against Çiğdem Toker adjourned 

The third hearing in a lawsuit against journalist Çiğdem Toker, filed by the mining company Şenbay Inc., was held on 9 July 2019 at the Ankara 13th Civil Court of First Instance. The mining company is seeking a record TL 1.55 million in non-pecuniary damages over an article Toker penned for Cumhuriyet daily in October 2017.

The court accepted the request of the lawyer representing Şenbay Inc. for the official records of the tender Toker wrote about in her column to be examined and adjourned the trial until 17 October 2019.

4 April 2019:

Compensation case against Çiğdem Toker to continue in July
Çiğdem Toker, a columnist for the Sözcü daily, appeared before an Ankara court on 4 April for the second hearing of a lawsuit filed by a Turkish mining company, which is seeking a record TL 1.5 million in compensation for a column Toker penned for the Cumhuriyet daily in October 2017.

Toker and her lawyer were in attendance for the hearing at the 13th Civil Court of First Instance of Ankara. In their interim ruling, the court decided to request from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure the official records of the tender Toker wrote about in her column and adjourned the lawsuit until 9 July.

6 December 2018:

Court dismisses compensation case against Çiğdem Toker 

The Ankara 1st Civil Court of First Instance on 6 December dismissed a compensation case against journalist Çiğdem Toker, filed by the agricultural company Agrobay on account of a column in which Toker wrote about Turkish companies exporting tomatoes to Russia. 

Claiming that Toker’s column damaged its public image and commercial standing, Agrobay had been seeking a record TL 1.5 million in non-pecuniary damages for Toker’s column.

19 June 2018:

Çiğdem Toker appears before court in compensation case
 
Cumhuriyet columnist Çiğdem Toker appeared before an Ankara court on June 19 for the first hearing of a lawsuit filed by Agrobay, an agricultural company, seeking TL 1.5 million in non-pecuniary damages for a newspaper column by Toker.
 
The column, published in November 2017, was about Turkish agricultural companies approved to export tomatoes to Russia following the lifting of restrictions Russia imposed on Turkey after it downed a Russian fighter jet in November 2015. Agrobay executives claim Toker’s article “destroyed the company’s public image” and “damaged its commercial standing.”
 
Toker was in attendance at the June 19 hearing, monitored by P24. Toker told the 1st Civil Court of First Instance of Ankara that her column was within the limits of freedom of expression and requested for the case to be rejected.  
The plaintiffs requested additional time to present the court with evidence. The court adjourned the trial until December 6, 2018.*

31 May 2018:

Journalist sued over column

A privately owned Turkish company is suing Çiğdem Toker, an economics columnist for the opposition daily Cumhuriyet, for 1.5 million Turkish liras (U.S.$332,197) in damages over a column alleging the company's involvement in corrupt government subway construction bids, the journalist wrote in a tweet on May 25.

In January, another company in the same business holding sued Toker for 1.5 million Turkish liras in damages relating to another of her columns that alleged the company's involvement in irregular export practices of tomatoes to Russia, according to a post from Toker on Twitter. The trial is ongoing, Cumhuriyetreported.

15 January 2018:

Journalist sued

A privately owned company is suing Çiğdem Toker, an economics columnist for the daily Cumhuriyet, for 1.5 million Turkish liras (US$398,190) in damages over a column alleging the company's involvement in irregular export practices of tomatoes to Russia, according to a post from Toker on Twitter.

6 December 2016:

On Dec. 6, a court banned access to the online version of a news report by journalist Çiğdem Toker,  published on July 11 by Cumhuriyet on SADAT A.Ş., a private military training company whose founder was appointed as an advisor to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.