July 2019
« (…) to accuse a cartoonist of aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation and to punish them with a heavy prison sentence is not only a great misdeed to the cartoonist, but to this country itself. » (excerpt from the statement of Musa Kart in front of the chair of 27th Istanbul high criminal court – see below) »
On this 24 July 2019, the Turkish cartoonist of the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet and his former colleagues Önder Çelik, Kemal Güngör, Hakan Kara, Güray Öz and Emre İper have been in custody for three months. Musa Kart is serving an unjustified sentence of 1 year and 16 days for “association with a terrorist organization”.
On this sad anniversary, Cartooning for Peace (CFP), the Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace and Cartoonist Rights Network International (CRNI) would like to reaffirm their unwavering support for Musa Kart, his family and his imprisoned colleagues. They take this opportunity to reiterate their call for the immediate release of Musa Kart and his five courageous colleagues and the rejection of all charges against the former Cumhuriyet staff wrongly accused.
CFP and CRNI invite all associations defending journalism and human rights to join the solidarity movement to free Musa Kart and his colleagues and thus support the freedom of expression.
February 2014
Following the publication of one cartoon (see below) in the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet daily on the 1st of February 2014, cartoonist Musa Kart was charged and he is now facing 9 years imprisonment because President Erdogan submitted a complaint. This latter relies on a controversial article of the Penal Code that refers to « insult to the Head of State crime ». Using this legal article is not new, however it has become almost systematic during Erdogan’s presidency. Since he was elected in August 2014, Erdogan has brought 236 prosecutions.
The cartoon shows two robbers stealing money from a vault. One of them tells the other : « No rush, our watchman is a hologram ». The watchman is President and former Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who showed up as a huge hologram during a meeting. The cartoon refers to a money laundering scandal in December 2013, involving many people close to Erdogan (Prime Ministers’ sons, pro-Erdogan businessmen) who is supected of having turned a blind eye.
Musa Kart had already made a cartoon that showed Erdogan as a cat (in 2005) entangled in strings. It depicted the many political problems Erdogan faced –notably with religious schools that refused to change their status at the time.
Musa Kart is not optimistic when it comes to perspective for freedom of speech in Turkey (journalists and cartoonists endure many threats and intimidation…) but he wants to continue to draw. Many cartoons were made by cartoonists from all over the world to support him.
