| Tatas Says He Was Beaten As
Kurd At Ali Baba Terrace After He Yelled At
Melvut Cavusglu
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 23 – Mehmet Tatas worked
at Ali Baba's Terrace
restaurant a block from the
United Nations until, he says,
the owner Ali Riza Dogan,
Senol Bakir and Tolgahan
Subakan learned that he was
Kurdish.
Then he was
assaulted, and called a
terrorist because his "son
refused to join the Turkish
Army."
He was told to
remove his Facebook page so
that no one would think Ali
Baba's Terrace supported the
PKK. Tatas became sick, and
sued.
Ali Baba's
Terrace, which is also accused
in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York of discriminating against
a gay employee, removed the
case to the SDNY, where it was
assigned to Judge Edgardo
Ramos.
On May 27
Judge Ramos held a conference
in the case, and Inner City
Press covered it, below.
Now on
October 7, Tatas has asked for
permission to file 50
interrogatories, since he
cannot afford a court reporter
for depositions: "Re: Tatas v.
Ali Baba’s Terrace, Inc. et
al., 1:19-cv-105951 Dear Judge
Ramos: I am writing to request
permission to serve Defendants
additional, substantive
interrogatories that go beyond
the scope permitted in Local
Rule 33.3, and in greater
number permitted by Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 33(a).
I would like to serve an
additional 50 interrogatories
that will take the place of
depositions. I am asking for
permission to serve these
additional interrogatories as
I am pro se and cannot afford
the cost of a court reporter
for depositions. I asked
opposing counsel for
permission to serve additional
interrogatories on September
23rd, but have not received an
answer." Watch this
site.
It emerged
that Ali Baba's Terrace's
lawyer in both cases, Diane
Krebs, did not want any
discussion of settlement to be
made public because, she said,
of "another case" - on
information and belief, the
anti-gay discrimination case.
Judge Ramos
patiently explained to Tatas
that agreeing to a discovery
schedule does not mean
settling.
On October 23
Judge Ramos held another
conference. He approved the 50
interrogatories in place of a
deposition; Tatas zeroed in on
the restaurant misidentifying
the Turkish official he
"yelled at and refused to
serve" as being the Prime
Minister, and not the Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Melvut
Cavusglu." Judge Ramos told
Tatas he could raise that at
any trial.
Inner City Press,
which is covering both cases,
will have more on this. The
Kurdish case is Tatas v. Ali
Baba's Terrace, Inc. et al.,
19-cv-10595 (Ramos).
***
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