Turkey, dog, and pork
The Times reports that a British satirist living in Turkey faces jail for “insulting the dignity of the Prime Minister” – the Turkish Prime Minister, that is.
The photoshopping* Istanbul resident Michael Dickinson’s Best In Show depicted the head of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan grafted on to the body of a dog. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party is the offshoot of a banned Islamist movement which is currently trying to raise the profile of Islam in the strictly secularist state.
Erdogan obviously takes himself very seriously indeed, and has made the same mistake as the Mo-toons protestors by bringing that foible to the attention of the world. Now the offending image is all over the internet. Oops.
Dickinson himself came to MWW’s attention in May last year when his Tripod website was closed down as a result of his posting another world-leader-dissing piece of photoshoppery – that time of President Bush with a cruise missile flying out of his arse-crack. The image was entitled Tyrant’s Pants.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the Turkish government has stepped in to prevent the public television company TRT from showing Winnie the Pooh. Why? Because one of the main characters, Piglet, is a pig.
The stupidity of the last story makes is hard to believe, and it should probably be taken with a pinch of salt. But the Turkish government has got a lot of work to do if it wants to join the EU. It seems, ass Gordon at Harry’s Place points out, “no one has told the Turks that insulting your national leader is a European pastime”.
*CORRECTION: Michael Dickinson uses good -ld-fashioned paper and paste – not Photoshop – to make his collages. (Thanks to Michael Dickinson in the comments)
Not sure you can insult the dignity of a politician. Anyway, surely they usually insult the general public just by having the effrontery to think people should vote for them (or accept their ‘leadership’ in cases where folk don’t even get the chance to vote for them)
“A politician is an Arse, upon which everything has sat, except a Man.”
except a Man
I wouldn’t like to bet my mortgage against it though 😉
I’m Michael Dickinson, the artist who made the ‘offending’ picture. Thanks for highlighting my predicament, but may I just correct a mistake in your piece? My collages are made in the old fashioned way, with pictures from magazines, scissors and gum – NOT Photoshop.
Thanks again.