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Caricatures of Erdogan flood Twitter

International support for persecuted cartoonists in Turkey challenges the Justice and Development Party's doctrine that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is above all criticism.
Kart 2.jpg

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.

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