‘Please, Protect from Breaking’

Click to read the article in Turkish

Mehmet Boğatekin has been behind bars for 22 years and he has written to bianet from the Ward A21 of Burhaniye Type T Prison in Balıkesir.

Sharing 12 of his drawings with us, Boğatekin has recounted that he has been drawing cartoons "inside" for a really long time now:

"We used to release a Kurdish-Turkish humor magazine named "Çolık" (Buzağı in Tr. and Calf in Eng.) with a group of friends. We published it until the 18th issue, we have taken a break due to hardships of paper printing".

About Mehmet Boğatekin

Boğatekin was born in Adıyaman in 1974. He studied Public Administration at İnönü University. He was arrested for political reasons and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has been behind bars over the past 22 years.

He mostly draws cartoons in prison, he received awards in some national and international competitions that he took part in. His drawings are occasionally published on some magazines.

Mehmet Boğatekin has shared the following cartoons with bianet:

* Ramandız (Fikir Hırsızı): Idea Thief

* İdam: Capital Punishment

* "They say that you make the youth go astray by spreading the hope of justice."

(AS/SD)