In Turkey, prosecution for insulting the nation is almost an occupational hazard for journalists and cartoonists. A number of provocative Turkish cartoons are on display at an exhibition in the Netherlands. Afterwards the organisers hope an internet auction will raise money to cover the legal costs for these controversial court cases.
 In 2006, the Armenian Turkish editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was prosecuted for insulting the Turkish identity under Article 301 of the penal code. In January 2007, he was murdered. |
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a poor sense of humour. In recent years, he has taken many a cartoonist to court. But the deluge of court cases has not stopped the illustrators from mocking the lack of press freedom in the country. In one cartoon, Sefer Selvi draws the prime minister, dressed in hunting gear, shooting at one of the newspapers he has taken to court. His dog tears up another copy.
"As soon as cartoonists raise taboos like the division between church and state, the army, the Armenian genocide and Atatürk, the founder of the republic of Turkey - the government intervenes,"says freelance journalist Mehmet Ülger, chairman of Röportaj, a Dutch organisation promoting press freedom in Turkey. He organised the exhibition The Power of the Imagination, which opens in the Press Museum in Amsterdam on 29 January. The murder of publicist and journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 was reason to breathe new life into the organisation, set up in 1996 as a bridge between journalists in the Netherlands and Turkey.
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Keeping inside the line
On his computer, there's a cartoon by Sefer Selvi in which Prime Minister Erdogan paints a circle around a dumbfounded journalist, saying: "If you want to write news, then you have to keep inside the line". Mr Ülger: "Since 2004 Turkey has had media legislation guaranteeing freedom of the press, as part of the deal for Turkey's accession to the European Union. But press freedom has only improved on paper. Turkey is one of the few countries to protect sources by law. But this doesn't happen in practice. Even the prime minister takes journalists to court."
Dutch censorship
There have been cases in the Netherlands in which press freedom has come under pressure. In April last year, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende demanded rectification when an imaginary speech by him on Islam was printed in weekly magazine Opinio. In May 2008, a Dutch cartoonist with the pseudonym Gregorius Nekschot spent the night in a cell for allegedly discriminating against Muslims in his cartoons. Mr Ülger was surprised by the events.
Recalcitrant
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The Power of the imagination exhibition can be seen from 30 January until 8 March in the Press Museum in Amsterdam. During the opening on Thursday 29 January, Dutch cartoonist Jos Collignon debates with his Turkish colleague Güneri Içoglu, who was once sentenced to eight months in prison for his cartoons. For more information see: http://www.roportaj.nl/ |
Tags: cartoon exhibition, Mehmet Ülger, press freedom, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Röportaj, Turkey