President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a libel suit against television journalist Sedef Kabash for insulting remarks about him, according to the MK correspondent in Turkey, citing the defendant's lawyer.

The head of state is demanding 250,000 Turkish liras ($18,000) in moral damages.

Turkish Minute indicates that Kabash was detained during a police raid in Istanbul on January 22 after comments she made about Erdogan on a TV program aired on TELE1 on January 14.

Turkey has a law that makes it possible to prosecute the head of state for public insults.

“While Sedef Kabash was waiting for an indictment in prison, today she was notified of a libel suit in the amount of 250,000 Turkish liras filed against her by Erdogan,” Ugur Poyraz, the detainee’s lawyer, wrote on Twitter.

bbabo.Net