It was deja vu for Musa Kart, a prominent Turkish cartoonist, when he learned that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sued him — again. Kart’s newspaper, the left-leaning Cumhuriyet Daily, reported the news with the succinct headline: “He [Erdogan] did not forget the cat cartoon; now he is taking this cartoon to court.”
On May 9, 2004, Cumhuriyet Daily had published a Kart image that portrayed Erdogan, then prime minister, as a cat tangled up in a mess of strings, symbolizing “imam hatip” (religious schools). The Erdogan cat says, “No need for tension … We promised, we will untangle this mess.” Kart was acquitted after a lengthy process of trials and appeals. He gained added international attention in 2005, when he received the Courage in Cartooning Award.