Comic Art in Turkey

Here's  a selection of humor publications from a recent visit to Turkey. While we were in Istanbul demonstrations were taking place in Taksim Square and Gezi park over the heavy handed policies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Uykusuz

(I believe the word baloon translation is: "I want my lawyer!")

Penguen

(featuring Erdogan on the cover)

Gir Gir

(This seems to be a resurrected version of the renowned humor paper Gir Gir. 

Again featuring Erdogan on the cover).

Caf Caf

Here's some of the content. Translation is an issue. For those of you a little rusty on your Turkish, I invite you to use the internet Turkish=English translation sites. The literal translations can be pretty hilarious. However, the general intent of many of the cartoons is fairly clear.

The mask from the graphic novel/movie "V for Vendetta" seems to be a common symbol for the demonstrators.

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

("Tayyip Istifa" seems to be "Tayyip (as in Tayyip Erdogan) Resign" usually shouted by the protestors. In this case by Erdogan himself).

("Welcome to Fascism")

Here are a couple more humor papers:

Mandanoz

(With a feature on the late cartoonist Eflatun Nuri) 

Bayan Yani is a humor paper created by 19 women cartoonists.

by Feyhan Guver

by Sibel Bozkurt

More on Turkish comic art (some older publications) to come in the next few days.