Berat Al-Bairaq, former Turkish Finance Minister and son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, intends to file a lawsuit against the opposition People’s Party, for targeting and discrediting him.
“The lawsuit, valued at 500,000 T.L ($ 71,000), is a response to the Republican People’s Party CHP speech against Al-Bairaq, and the money hoped to be earned will be donated as compensation against the former minister for the families of 13 people who were killed in the recent Turkish military operation in northern Iraq against the PKK,” Issa Sinan Goktas, the lawyer for the former Finance Minister said that.
Al-Bayrak’s absence has sparked widespread controversy since he stepped down from the Finance Ministry last November amid a new wave of turmoil in the Turkish lira, as reports indicate that he traveled to London to establish a new life, or went to the United States.
“The lawsuit came in response to the CHP’s allegations that Al-Bairaq depleted the reserves of the Central Bank, as well as the campaigns that were launched to locate Al-Bairaq after he disappeared from the public eye in the wake of his resignation,” this is what Lawyer Goktas confirmed.
“The CHP was involved in what it described as a process of creating abusive perceptions against Al-Bairaq, and this constitutes a defamation crime,” Al-Bairaq’s lawyer added.
“Al-Bairaq used to spend some time at home with his family, as is the case with any Turkish family,” as Goktas pointed out.
It is noteworthy that the Turkish police arrested three members of the youth branch of the main opposition party, against the backdrop of the “wanted” poster, the word that appeared on a picture of the former Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Al-Bairaq, whom the Turks accuse of causing the economic crisis in the country for about 3 years.