Local Editor

Turkey's president is suing the country's opposition leader for slander for allegedly claiming before a national election that bathrooms in his 1,115-room palace had gold-plated seats.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lawyer told the state-run Anadolu Agency Tuesday that he would seek compensation from main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Kilicdaroglu denied in a television interview late Monday that he made the claim. He insisted he had referred to gold-plated toilet seats as a general criticism of lavish lifestyles by officials and that "Erdogan took it personally."

Turkey holds its parliamentary election Sunday.

Although Erdogan is supposed to be above politics and isn't running, he has been campaigning for a victory by the ruling AKP party, which he led for more than a decade as prime minister.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team