At a special event in Washington, DC marking World Press Freedom Day, human rights NGO CARTOONISTS RIGHTS today announced the recipient of their Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award 2025: ZEHRA ÖMEROĞLU (Türkiye).
Following the publication of a cartoon in LeMan humor magazine in November 2020, Zehra Ömeroğlu has been the subject of an ongoing criminal prosecution on the grounds of “obscenity”; the maximum penalty is three years in prison.
Proceedings began against her in 2022 while Türkiye was still contending with the COVID-19 pandemic. Summoned to a police station, she initially thought that they wanted to speak to her about a cartoon that had been attracting many negative comments, including threats to her safety, and portraying hijabi women in Iran. Failing this, there was a possibility that the matter was one of her cartoons about President Erdoğan, a notorious persecutor of cartoonists (most notably, our 2005 awardee Musa Kart).
Instead, she was surprised to learn that the cartoon to be discussed was her “taste and smell” gag panel (pictured, and translated to English), a piece that according to her own account has caused amusement and even gales of laughter in every setting, from police interviews to court rooms.
In the years that followed a protracted process has failed to reach a definitive conclusion – thirteen court dates and counting, with the next to take place June 26th – however the effects have been deleterious on Ms Ömeroğlu’s physical and mental health as well as her prospects. She considers her career in Türkiye destroyed, as even a suspended sentence handed down would curtail her freedom of expression, carrying with it the possibility of even harsher penalties were she to commit another alleged crime.
Extract from the documentary film Taste and Smell by Şenol Çöm – used with permission.
Even within the context of the pandemic and the judicial backlog that resulted all over the world, the prosecution of Zehra Ömeroğlu has been extraordinarily sluggish and marked by tenuous if not ridiculous delays. On one occasion, the judge simply failed to attend. On another, the court sought an “expert opinion” on the cartoon with less then 24 hours’ notice.
When finally and officially designated as “obscene” in a report issued March 2024 by the Türkish Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services, Directorate of Child Services’ Board for the Protection of Minors from Obscene Publications we said: “We take great exception to the way in which Ömeroğlu’s work is characterised, with a definition that is indistinguishable from that of pornography.” Journalist Barış Pehlivan noted “either my eyesight has deteriorated, or the board members can detect the invisible with their special powers.”
Zehra Ömeroğlu’s cartoon may be many things – bawdy, raunchy, rude – but it was published in a well-established adult humor title alongside and in sequence with many other such cartoons. To suggest it imperils children in any way is outrageous.
Türkiye has a long and storied history of cartooning as rich and vibrant as the most celebrated European traditions, a scene that has deteriorated under Recep Erdoğan and the mounting authoritarianism and patriarchal, nationalist, and sectarian attitudes that have been the hallmarks of his presidency. Cartoonists Rights has highlighted multiple instances of cartoonists targeted, from the three prosecutions and ultimate imprisonment of Musa Kart to the pressures on such magazines as Gırgır, LeMan and Penguen, and the brutal harassment of Dogan Güzel.
Cartoonists Rights’ Executive Director, Terry Anderson said:
“I’m delighted our Board of Directors chose to honor Zehra this year, especially as we witness the change that is unfolding in Türkiye. In our view, her prosecution is based wholly on her gender; the same cartoon, in the same space and at the same time with a male byline simply would not have attracted the same (over)reaction from state censors. Like many outspoken women in Türkiye, Zehra has been deliberately persecuted but this attempt to silence her has wholly backfired. As a direct result of her prosecution, Zehra’s cartoons are now seen in international media on a regular basis and her story will soon be told in a new graphic novel project that she’s working on right now. We commend her bravery and resilience, and above all her undaunted sense of humor.”
Zehra Ömeroğlu said:
“My heartfelt thanks to Cartoonists Rights and all its partners. Thank you for encouraging me to keep drawing despite all the difficulties. I’m so happy to receive this award. It’s really important to me.”
NB – Ms Ömeroğlu did not attend tonight’s event in person; she will receive her award at a later date.
Two partner organizations on either side of the Atlantic combine forces with a unified program of international awards, recognizing the world’s bravest cartoonists facing threats to their freedom of expression: the Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award (in odd years, awarded by CARTOONISTS RIGHTS, Washington, DC); and the Kofi Annan Courage in Cartooning Award (in even years, awarded by FREEDOM CARTOONISTS, Geneva).
