UPDATE: the hearing mentioned below and scheduled for April 16th 2024 was cancelled, as the judge failed to appear. On September 26th, The Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance sought a response from the Administrative Court concerning a legal challenge to the findings submitted by Directorate of Child Services’ Board for the Protection of Minors from Obscene Publications. In addition, it ordered a new report from an expert panel at a public university concerning the “literary and artistic value” of Ömeroğlu’s cartoon. The proceedings stand adjourned until February 2nd 2025.
Today CARTOONISTS RIGHTS joins three other organizations concerned with the safety and free expression of press cartoonists – Cartooning for Peace, Freedom Cartoonists, and Freemuse – to make a joint statement on behalf of Zehra Ömeroğlu, recently found criminally liable for “obscenity” over a cartoon that appeared in Turkish humor magazine LeMan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March we detailed the findings of Türkiye’s Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services – Directorate of Child Services’ Board for the Protection of Minors from Obscene Publications against cartoonist Zehra Ömeroğlu, and our strong objections to them.
The Board determined that a cartoon of Ömeroğlu’s that ran in LeMan in 2020 represented criminal “obscenity”. We considered this biased and sexist, and asked “Would the same cartoon, published under the same circumstances, have attracted the same judicial action and censorious ruling had it been authored by a man instead of a woman?”
Next week Ms Ömeroğlu will hear the sentence of the court in her criminal prosecution. She could go to prison for as long as three years.
Today we join Cartooning for Peace, Freedom Cartoonists, and Freemuse in saying:
“Determined to defend Zehra Ömeroğlu, our organizations express their full solidarity with her in the face of the trial, the outcome of which will be a true marker of the scale of the attacks on freedom of expression, and of the space allocated to women’s freedom of expression and feminist artistic production in Türkiye.“
Ms Ömeroğlu’s court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16th. Cartoonists Rights and our partner organizations will continue to monitor her case with great interest and as matter of top priority.
