THE IRISH Embassy in Ankara was ordered to pay damages of 2,000 Turkish lira (€810) to a locally employed member of staff who had brought a case against the mission claiming she had been bullied at work.
Gul Stout (45) claimed in her petition to the court that she had been repeatedly bullied by the then ambassador’s secretary, Michelle Matthews, and that the then envoy to Turkey, Anthony Mannix, had not only refused to act on the complaints but attempted to have Ms Stout dismissed.
“It’s wonderful,” Ms Stout said after the court ruling yesterday. “We knew that the amount of compensation would be low but the fact is this decision is an incredible dishonour for the Irish Embassy. I just wish they had said sorry before. This would have ended then.”
Representing the Irish Embassy, lawyer Cem Murat Sofuoglu yesterday asked the court to find for his client, claiming the allegations were not proven and no bullying had taken place. Mr Sofuoglu had in previous hearings asked for the case to be dismissed on the grounds of sovereign immunity. Mr Sofuoglu did not call any witnesses or produce any documents to the court.
Through her solicitors, Ms Matthews had earlier asked for it to be put on the public record that she “vehemently denies that she bullied Ms Gul Stout”. Neither Mr Mannix nor Ms Matthews now live in Turkey.
Full details of the court’s decision are expected to be released in a number of weeks, after which the case will go to an automatic appeal. It is expected that the Irish Embassy will repeat its claim that it has sovereign immunity and therefore the case should never have been heard in the first place.