12/12/2019

According to Financial Times, defamation claims filed in London increased 70% last year, rising from 156 in 2017 to 265 in 2018. One example of a modern day issue many of us are facing is demonstrated in the libel case of Ergun Berksoy, who lives in Cayman Islands.

Ergun Berksoy is a Caymanian entrepreneur who was born in 1943 in Ankara, Turkey.  Throughout his career he worked across a wide range of industries, including Tourism, Hospitality, Real-Estate, Trade, Air Force and Sports. He made significant contributions to the industries he has worked in: in the 70's he revolutionised the logistics of food export in Turkey; in the 80's he empowered Turkish migrants in Germany by leading to their success in sports; in the 90's he instigated air travel between Israel and Turkey, which led to a nationwide boom in tourism. In that era, he also established three 5-star hotels in Turkey, Cesars Hotels.

In 2003, Ergun Berksoy moved to Grand Cayman with his family. He founded Seven Mile Beach Investment Co. Ltd.  and started investing in the property market. After purchasing several condos in Regal Beach Club (RBC), Berksoys became members of RBC ExCo (Executive Community) and played a key role in the decisions taken at the AGMs (Annual General Meeting).  Few landlords at RBC put their name forward to be elected for ExCo, but didn't succeed due to the majority of ExCo voting against them at the AGM held in 2015. Therefore, they decided to take revenge by defaming Ergun Berksoy online.

In 2015, Ergun Berksoy filed a court case against one of the landlords, P.P. The court suspended P.P.'s access to the properties he owned in Grand Cayman and confiscated his laptop and phone. Therefore, P.P flew away from Grand Cayman and haven't returned ever since. 

The blogs that have been online since 2015, accuse Ergun Berksoy of illegally sourcing his money and claim that Interpol has been after him. As seen below from the criminal record reports in Grand Cayman and Turkey, Mr. Berksoy has never conducted any business illegitimately. Ergun Berksoy's source of funds were proven to be legitimately earned from his 5-star hotel chain in Turkey as a precondition for opening a bank account in Grand Cayman.  Since 2015, Ergun Berksoy travelled to the U.K., U.S.A., Japan, Switzerland, and Turkey on numerous occasions. Ergun Berksoy stated: "If the allegations were to be true, I would have been easily caught while travelling extensively."  In order to end this defamation campaign, Ergun Berksoy requested a clearance report from Interpol that confirms he has never been involved in any criminal activity. The application and the clearance report from Interpol are attached below. In 2019, Ergun Berksoy opened a court case in Turkey to take down the blogs and the court case is yet to be finalised.