I learned about the Charlie Hebdo attack from a phone call in the early morning hours of Jan. 7. The messenger was a political satirist and friend calling from Istanbul. He was calm as he explained the brutal attack. Then he said, “I received a call from a private number. The voice on the line ordered me to turn on the television to take a sneak peak at my own future.” It was not the first time my friend had been threatened. When I asked what he was going to do, he replied with his usual dark humor, “I will first mourn the loss of my colleagues and caricaturize my sorrow.”
Reactions among the Turkish public to the attack in France have varied widely. One group includes Turks showing solidarity with the #JeSuisCharlie hashtag on social media. One can see the high volume of solidarity tweets from Turkey on the day of the attack. There were also protests on the streets of Istanbul.
