Former deputy ordered to pay compensation to PMC for seeking information in parliament

A Turkish court ordered a former deputy to pay compensation to private military company SADAT for "attacking the company's personal rights" by filing a parliamentary question about the company, Kisa Dalga said citing SADAT's statement.

Huda Kaya, former deputy for the People's Democratic Party (HDP), filed a parliamentary question in November 2021 addressing Fuat Oktay, Turkish vice president at the time.

One of the 15 questions about SADAT was whether or not an investigation was launched into claims that the company delivered weapons to Turkish-backed "Sultan Murad Division" and Al-Nusra Front in Syria. The latter was referred to as a "terrorist group" in the question, as it is designated so by several countries including Turkey.

Another question asked by Kaya was:

"Does SADAT have military training camps in Turkey and abroad? If there are, where are they located and who are provided training in these camps? Who are responsible for the inspection of these camps and how often are inspections held? At which institutions have the trainees later been employed and where have they served?"

Upon SADAT's complaint over the parliamentary question, a lawsuit was launched against deputy Kaya.

In its decision, the court said that "the plaintiff's personal rights were subjected to an attack by the parliamentary question's content which associated the plaintiff with terrorist groups without documenting such an association and in the lack of any court decision confirming it."