Turkey's Erdogan withdraws all lawsuits for insulting him as one-off gesture

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday (July 29) he was withdrawing all lawsuits filed against people for insulting him as a one-off gesture, in a move triggered by feelings of unity against the coup attempt.

"I take this opportunity to withdraw all the lawsuits for this once against those who showed disrespect to me and insulted me in every way," Erdogan told the audience at the opening ceremony of a cultural centre in honor of victims of the attempted coup.

Turkish prosecutors have opened nearly 2,000 cases against people for insulting Tayyip Erdogan since he became Turkey's president 18 months ago, according to the ministry of justice.

Insulting the president is a crime in Turkey punishable by up to four years in jail, but the law has previously been invoked only rarely. Critics accuse Erdogan of intolerance and say he is using the law to stifle dissent.

Those who have faced trial for insulting Erdogan include journalists, cartoonists, academics and even schoolchildren.

Erdogan continued to ratchet up his rhetoric against Western countries for failing to show solidarity with Ankara over a failed coup attempt.

"Any country and any leader who do not worry about the sake of Turkish democracy, about our people's right to live and about our nation's future, the future of our people as much as they worry over the fate of putschists are not our friends," he said.

He accused western leaders of insincerity for expressing their concerns over a deepening crackdown after a failed coup attempt instead of standing by his nation.

The purges target supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding the July 15-16 attempted-coup.

Turkey's Western allies condemned the coup attempt, in which at least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured, but they have been rattled by the scale of the crackdown.