Turkish PM sues over animal cartoon

[emad]

Helena Smith in Athens
Saturday March 26, 2005
The Guardian

The Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, once hailed as a champion of free speech, is suing a newspaper for daring to portray him as a number of animals in a cartoon, the fourth time he has taken the media to court for poking fun at him.

Incensed that he should be caricatured as a frog, camel, monkey, snake, duck and elephant in the satirical magazine Penguen, Mr Erdogan has demanded nearly £16,000 in compensation.

The weekly splashed the drawings across its cover in a show of defiance after Mr Er dogan took legal action against one of Turkey's most prominent political cartoonists.

"We printed the drawings as a message to say that cartoonists cannot be silenced," said Selcuk Erdem, the editor of Penguen. "This was a test of the sincerity of the prime minister, who says he wants Turkey to be a member of the EU," he added. "Now he has shown his true face."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,12700,1445882,00.html

[seriousstan]

1. Here

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[Elidor]

2. Here's the cartoon: