De lange arm van Erdoğan
My column for the Freethinker this month is an invitation to Erdoğan to arrest me for insulting him.
RT reports on a Dutch cartoon that does the same thing.
A front-page caricature went public in a popular Dutch daily De Telegraaf, showing Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan as a sinister ape squashing freedom of speech in Europe.The cartoon illustrates a brawny ape with President Erdogan’s face – turned red and puffy – squashing a slim woman resembling Dutch columnist Ebru Umar.
The Dutch cartoon is a reflection on the latest developments in Ankara’s crackdown on freedom of speech in Turkey and beyond.
Umar’s case appears to be the most recent in the growing log of media crackdowns in Turkey. She was arrested on Saturday over tweets Ankara said“insulted” Erdogan, and released on Sunday on condition she stays in Turkey and reports to the police.
Erdoğan is a head of state. Cartoons go with the territory.
You can’t arrest us all, Mr Erdoğan.
An ‘everybody draw Erdoğan’ day would do nicely, now.
And write doggerel about him while we’re at it.
The Streisand Effect may be replaced with the Erdogan (piss be on him) Effect.
Sam Vimes, you’ve made my bloody day…
Though now I want to say Piss Be Turducken…
Doggerel?
OK, try this.
Hail to Recep Tayip Erdogan
Erdogan, Erdogan, you are a fool
Your cruelty to Kurds earns a kick.
Do you think the world quakes at your rule?
You’re a hectoring lunatic.
Erdogan, Erdogan, you don’t get it,
Your laws don’t apply round the earth.
You hate being insulted? Well, forget it
We’ll make you a target for mirth.
You think your Turkey will join the EU
You’re making quite sure it cannot.
A bigot and autocrat like you
Is regarded as a foul blot.
Erdogan, Erdogan, you are unworthy
Of assuming the great Ataturk’s cloak.
To use an epithet crude and earthy
You are a fucking dreadful joke.
this one is short but sweet https://thenodster.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/a-poem-for-erdogan/
Erdoğan, Erdoğan
King of the Turks
Arrested a child in first grade
Afraid that the urchin
His name was besmirchin’
In stick drawings of rats she had made.