Magazine Sued for Erdogan Caricatures

The "Penguen" humor magazine is being sued for depicting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an elephant, giraffe, monkey, camel, frog, snake, cow and duck on a page titled "The Tayyip World."

Erdogan is seeking 40,000 new Turkish liras (USD 30,000) in damages from Penguen's owner Erdil Yasaroglu and Pak Publishing House.

The petition by Erdogan's lawyer Fatih Sahin, said that the Penguen magazine, in its February 24, 2005 issue, depicted Erdogan as different animals on a page titled "The Tayyip World." T

he page had a subtitle which read: "Caricaturist Musa Kart was punished for drawing Erdogan as a cat," the petition read.

Lawyer Sahin, in his petition said that the caricatures were an assault to Prime Minister Erdogan's personal rights.

In the 127th issue of Penguen magazine, eight caricature artists had protested their colleague Musa Kart's conviction by drawing Erdogan as different animals.

Recently, a Turkish court ordered caricaturist Musa Kart of the Cumhuriyet newspaper to pay Erdogan 5,000 new Turkish liras (USD 3,700) in damages for drawing him as a cat.

The Evrensel Newspaper was ordered to pay 10,000 new Turkish liras (USD 7,400) in damages for another caricature. (EO/EU/EA/YE)